Dr. Tom Collins:

I will begin with Deputy Ó Broin’s comment on the issue of language, which I accept. The forum has had a lot of debate on language and has consistently argued against the use of the word “customer” in terms of water users, on the basis of our philosophical position which is that, as citizens, we have a citizens’ entitlement and that access to water should not be based on marketplace capability. I believe that there would nearly be consensus in the forum on that issue, regardless of where people were coming at it from. I accept that language is always important and the language being used here does mean something.

On engaging the voice of the public at local level I certainly believe there are opportunities there through the existing structure such as the public participation with the local authorities and I would also consider structures such as the citizen information centres and a variety of other public information venues at local level. The problem is that our forum has not utilised those kinds of structures up to this point, but it probably should do and probably needs to look at doing so and engaging proactively with people who have direct upfront face-to-face interaction. Part of this debate relates to people's capacity to access information. Obviously, people who are uncomfortable with information technology or who may have certain disabilities or who are otherwise locally confined will have greater needs in this area than other people. These are possibly the people on whom we should be proofing all our work. I will take on board Deputy Ó Broin’s point and bring it back to the forum to see how it can engage more effectively. I now invite Ms O’Brien to address the committee as she has some further ideas on engaging with the NGO sector, on the same point. I will then come back in on the issue of the four recommended actions.