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

I move amendment No. 44:

In page 13, line 26, after "health" to insert "or social care".

If possible, will the Minister give us more information on how he sees the medical exemption scheme operating? Notwithstanding my opposition to the Bill, I welcome this element and it is important it is got right. One concern is that there are several cases in other institutions where there is some type of medical exemption or medical threshold. For example, in South Dublin County Council, there is a medical priority on the housing list. People submit a certain type of medical documentation but it is not council officials who determine it. Instead, a senior HSE official makes an assessment of that information for the local authority.

Who will make these assessments in the case of exemptions from water charges? Will it be Irish Water staff or somebody with a medical or professional background? What is the Minister's understanding of the types of illness covered or medical information required? Again in the case of South Dublin County Council, it will not accept medical information from a GP or a counsellor for the housing priority list. It has to be at consultant level, a high threshold. Will the Minister give us as much information as he can on this?

On the specific amendments, the definition in this section needs to be a little bit broader than medical in the sense of some verifiable medical condition to include certain kinds of what might be termed hygiene or social conditions which might not be directly related to a medical illness but might be related to a behaviour which might affect questions of hygiene or volumes of water used. The first of the three amendments proposes to include not just a health care professional but a social care professional to allow for a broader understanding. Likewise, amendment No. 45 proposes to include medical or other evidence. This is not about generalised circumstances but where there might be a hygiene related requirement for additional use of water that, strictly speaking, is not a medical condition. Amendment No. 46 is consistent with that. They are all broadly in the same ballpark but are ensuring this particular section is got right in that sense.