Fergus O'Dowd (Louth, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

In a previous job I was looking at statistics on the number of persons per household nationally. I think most fall within the range of less than three persons per household. A significant percentage of households consist of less than four persons. I understand that single adult households are deemed to be the people most vulnerable in terms of water use in particular. How is it proposed to distinguish between four people in a household with a single parent and three children or a household with four adults? The use per type of person is different.

My other concern relates to people who have a requirement for a significantly increased allowance of water due to medical reasons. How will each household be checked? I would expect it to be quite difficult to verify. One could be told there are six people living a house. The legislation refers to people "who ordinarily reside". How is that term defined?