Barry Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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That is the point I made when we discussed the Bill in the Dáil. The Government wants us to open the door to metering in the absence of details, costings or projections. It is only later that we will have an idea of what this will cost per household. Deputy Stanley is correct. Ongoing maintenance costs in counties Offaly, Laois and Westmeath, for example, amount to approximately €12 million per annum for 20,000 houses. This works out at €600 per household even before we add the cost of metering, reinstatements and repairs. Many people think the existing system is inefficient. They cannot be expected to pay for an inefficient system even though €600 comes out of their taxes already. This is why I find it difficult to support an interim Bill in the absence of the facts. We were promised that a full audit would be made available. Bord Gáis was successful in winning this new role largely on the basis of its billing and auditing capacity. Metering is to be completed by the end of 2014. Is the billing system within Bord Gáis part of the ongoing negotiations for the sale of parts of the company? How far behind the initial schedule is the delivery of Irish Water and subsequent charging of households, having made the system fit for practice? Are we one year or two years behind or are we on schedule?