Hildegarde Naughton (Fine Gael)
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I apologise for having missed the presentation but there was a vote in the Seanad. Mr. McCarton referred to a pilot project in schools. I know the slogan, reduce, reuse and recycle from the litter campaign in the schools. When the children went home from school they would teach their parents about the importance of reducing waste.

Will the witnesses elaborate on the school project in Westport and the costs arising from the installation of the new system? I am interested in learning how households can conserve water, especially by using low technology and low maintenance options. Households will be interested in reducing their costs by using water harvesting and conservation. Could they outline the timeframe in which households could put these measures in place? Could they comment on a possible grant scheme?

I understand the witnesses have not engaged formally with Irish Water, Uisce Éireann. From their experience of the systems in other countries, how could we instill the need for innovation in Irish Water, which they state is lacking, in conserving water? The theme of my questioning is about reducing costs by innovation and thus keeping costs for individual households down in the short-term. The bigger picture will involve infrastructure and so on. Is the aim of the school pilot scheme to show people what they can do in the short term?