Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I am not sure that is what the Bill will do. It might be what the Minister intends it to do, but we can discuss some of the questions in that regard as we go through the sections.

First, I remind the committee what the Oireachtas committee recommended in its report before teasing out some of what the Minister said. Section 4.4 states: "The Committee recommends that the CER should determine average consumption levels setting the threshold level at 1.7 times the average household usage". That is the figure of 2.6 in the CER's recommendation at the time. It continues: "The legislation should also provide for appropriate allowances for extraordinary circumstances such as medical conditions and above the average household size [that is, households above 2.6 or 2.7] that falls beyond the threshold allowance and taking into consideration that the average usage per person is 133 litres per person per day". My reading of the legislation is that where it refers to average households, it still refers to a figure of 2.6 or 2.7. The Minister tells us that there is a change and that the average household, for the purposes of the legislation and the CER determining what the average household threshold will be, is four. Will he point to where that is explicit in the legislation as that is not my reading of the Bill? When it refers to average household usage, the implication throughout the Bill is that the figure is 2.6 or 2.7. The figure four comes into it for the purposes of determining the allowance above average household usage. That is where the concern arises.

Some of this goes to the heart of what the Minister said. He said this was not about a revenue stream, but I am not convinced. In the first instance, it is demonstrating a revenue stream in order that the Minister can go to the European Commission and say that although it might not be the full revenue stream the Government originally wanted, there is still a revenue stream. As everybody knows, the legislation allows for the prospect being available to this or future Governments to increase the revenue stream. Regardless of whether that is the intention of the Minister, it is built into the proposal, as it stands.

There is value in international usage figures being included in the CER's considerations. I accept and welcome the fact that the Minister will look at them at the point of determining the threshold. As the debate proceeded from the public deliberations and commentary on the Oireachtas water committee, the notion that we had a problem with wastage took hold, a problem where small numbers of people are wasting large volumes of water. The CER tells us that there is a small number of households that are using a larger than average amount of water, but there is no evidence to suggest there is wastage. One of the strongest facts which is included in our original report and was reported to the committee is that average litres per person per day usage is significantly below the OECD and EU average. There is a need, therefore, for it to be included in the deliberations and considerations of the CER, as well as with regard to what the Minister suggested in terms of the considerations of the Minister at a later stage. However, it is very important at this point that we have clarity on the average household and the purpose in having four persons in the calculation of the additional allowance.