Professor Tom Collins:

I think there are interesting questions about whether fairness means that everybody should pay the same amount. One might argue that fairness means that if one's supply costs more, maybe there should be some reflection of that in the cost to the user. In my connections and in my involvement with the group scheme sector - I say this making very clear that I am not speaking for the sector - within the forum, we have had very little pressure of any sort come to bear to change the existing situation as it impacts on the group scheme. However, as Deputy Ó Broin has pointed out, if water charges will be free for everybody and are not free for a sizeable minority - the last figure I saw was that there are 500,000 members of group schemes - it is going to be very difficult to explain on the grounds of fairness, even if there are additional charges and the group schemes are that bit different. As a member of a group scheme, I have a sense that I own it. I can impact on its decision-making and attend meetings, but I do not own it in the sense that I do not have private shares that I can sell. I still think it is a model that I am a very strong advocate for in terms of environmental management, in terms of people literally taking ownership for what is happening in their immediate environment and in terms of people having a very strong vested interest in how their scheme is managed. Was there one other question raised by the Senator that I have missed?