Ms Mindy O'Brien:

I grew up in the States and my father invested in all sorts of public bonds, from wastewater treatment bonds to highway bonds. Those are very feasible here and would provide a steady income for people who do not want a lot of risk in their investment. That is something that could be done. The National Treasury Management Agency, NTMA, or the Department of Finance might be able to give some assistance. I am not an expert in finance.

There was reference to excessive use and how to measure it. The main thing is to define what is excessive use. The median is in the region of 150 litres a day per person. It might have been said yesterday that three times that amount is considered excessive use but I think that is far too much. If one rates it that high it will become the norm. It needs to be above the average or median use unless there are outliers. It is important to take care of the people who need it but not to make the exception the rule. The definition is the key point.