Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I will deal with the last question first because it is obviously topical today, although I will try to stick with the Estimates but it does impact on the Estimates to a certain extent because we have to account for the suspension of water charges this year. That was already part of the Estimate and it will be part of a Revised Estimate if the decision is made to proceed in a way that does not involve a revenue stream from water charges in the future for the rest of the year. My position on this and that of the Government has been to try to find a compromise that the Dáil can support, that parties can work towards, that makes sense for the country, that can be accepted broadly across society and that can be consistent with our legal obligations under the Water Framework Directive. All I said yesterday was that I do not see how I can introduce legislation against the advice of the Attorney General when I know that it is likely to lead to court action by the European Commission and to fines being imposed on Ireland. That would be hugely irresponsible of me. I am happy to work with the compromises that everybody is working towards whereby effectively we are doing away with water charges for normal use in houses. The only thing that I have said, and I am very consistent with the expert commission and the European Commission on this, as well as with the Attorney General's advice, that of my own Department and some other political parties, is that for us to be compliant with commitments to which we have signed up under the Water Framework Directive, there needs to be some polluter pays principle under our water strategy whereby there is a consequence for wasting large volumes of water. That is all. The Joint Committee on Future Funding of Domestic Water Services will continue to do its work. I hope it can work on the basis of a working paper that the committee Chairman made available yesterday, which I think is a very good working document that involves everybody having to make some compromise. While I hope that can be the basis of finding a resolution, I will leave that to the committee concerned. I was asked a direct question yesterday as to whether I would introduce legislation against the advice of the Government's independent advice coming from the Attorney General's office and I said I could not do that. While I think that is just a fair and honest position from me, I am happy to work with all parties to try to find a resolution to this issue because it is something that has dogged Irish politics for far too long.

We have big issues to deal with as a country, as a Government and as an Oireachtas. I hope that everybody will work towards finding a solution to this issue so that we can move on. That is really all I can say on the water issue.

In regard to some of the other issues-----