Bríd Smith (Dublin South Central, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

I wish to speak to amendment No. 14, which calls for the deletion of the section. I support what has already been said by some of the other members. The problem is that we are defining wastage as normal household use where there are more people living in the house. That strikes me as the essence of what is being said. If one calculates per household rather than per person the more people there are in the house then they are considered water wasters. That is the complete opposite to what this Bill should intend to do. It was shown by the special committee that the wastage happens at the point of leakages not at the point of use. If we are going to go after the wastage then we should go after the leaks, which by and large are in the main part of the system rather than in individual households. Therefore, I argue for the deletion of the entire section because of its definition of wasters. Wasters are not another two or three people living in a house, they are people who do not fix the leaks, who have responsibility for the gross waste of water through leakages in towns and cities. That amounts to Irish Water and in the past it was the local authorities and overall it amounts to what the Oireachtas decides to do in relation to this very essential service.