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

I move amendment No. 28:

In page 11, line 1, to delete "customer" and substitute "household".

I will speak to all of them as they are similar amendments. It may seem to some members that this is a symbolic or superficial change but it is quite important. Part of the opposition to domestic metered water charges was opposition to the commodification of water as a public good or service and the fear based on what has been happening across the world of eventual privatisation. This amendment seeks to make clear that the people who access water in the public system are not customers. We do not call pupils in schools customers of education services but we call them pupils. We do not call patients in hospitals customers but we call them patients. Just as water is a public good and public service, we should call the consumers, in this instance, households. In some senses this goes to the very heart of the difficulties we have had with water policy. This is really about saying people are not customers and we are not commodifying water. The Minister on Second Stage made it clear the water charges regime, as originally introduced by a former Minister and Deputy, Mr. Phil Hogan, is gone. The majority of the people and households - we do not know how many as of yet - will not pay charges and will not be in any kind of exchange relationship so cannot be regarded as customers. This is something I feel very strongly about and it is why in all the relevant sections of the text I have replaced "customer" with "household".