Dick Roche (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)

I move: "That the Bill be now read a Second Time."

I am pleased to bring the Water Services Bill 2003 before the Dáil. The Bill has been passed by the Seanad and has benefited from the debate in that House and a range of amendments agreed by it. I wish to explain what is meant by the term "water services" as it is used in the Bill. If one is to appreciate the overall thrust of the Bill, it is helpful to visualise water services as pertaining to "water in the pipe" — from the time following abstraction that it first enters a supply pipe to the point of its subsequent discharge to the environment as treated waste water. The Bill does not seek to take a broader environmental view of water resources issues, such as pollution control, water quality in its broadest sense and river basin management. It is intended that the legislation will complement other legislation in this area.

The term "water services" encapsulates the provision of water supplies and the subsequent collection and treatment of waste water. Water supply and waste water services were generally provided for separately in earlier legislation, but such an approach is no longer considered to be appropriate as continued separation could lead to legislative anomalies and would run counter to the ongoing programme of reforming and simplifying the legislative code. Water supply and waste water services are inextricably linked. While each contains some unique elements, they are two sides of the same coin, in effect. Water services are provided by county and city councils acting as sanitary authorities. The Bill provides that, where water services are concerned, county and city councils will cease to be known as sanitary authorities and will become known as "water services authorities". References to water services authorities in the Bill are, in effect, references to the relevant county or city council acting in its capacity as the provider and guardian of water services in its functional area.

The primary purpose of the Bill is to establish a comprehensive and modern legislative code governing functions, standards, obligations and practice in respect of the planning, management and delivery of water supplies and the collection and treatment of waste water. The Bill, which consolidates and modernises the existing legislative code governing water services, is the first root and branch consolidation and modernisation of water services law for more than 120 years since the Public Health (Ireland) Act 1878. While some of the older texts have stood the test of time, much of the language and concepts are outdated and arcane. Many quaint terms used in the 1878 Act, such as "water-closets" and "water undertakers" are no longer in common usage. Other provisions, such as those in the Public Health (Ireland) Act 1878 referring to "earth closets, water-closets or privy accommodation", have echoes of past centuries and have long since been overtaken.

The legislative code is being consolidated to provide a modern and easily accessible code governing all aspects of water services in a single text. Those undertaking research on water services law are required to trawl through a maze of different enactments, many of which have been amended or superseded by later enactments. The Bill sets a baseline behind which legislators, practitioners, the courts and the public will no longer be required to search if they wish to ascertain the legal foundation for requirements relating to the provision of water services.

Having introduced the House to the Bill's key terminology and familiarised Deputies with its objectives, it is appropriate to clarify what the Bill is not about. This is necessary to correct any misunderstandings, or deliberate or untruthful efforts to create misunderstandings which might exist in respect of its objectives and to better inform the upcoming debate.

I wish to deal first with the suggestion that the Water Services Bill is linked to privatisation in some way. Nothing in the Bill is intended to move water services policy towards privatisation. The Bill retains the present public ownership arrangements and provides the necessary supports to foster the development of those arrangements into a top-class service. The privatisation of water services would require significant additional legislation to provide for an independent regulator to oversee service delivery, for example. That is not attempted in the Bill and is not its intention or purpose.

The Bill anticipates the growing involvement of public private partnerships, PPPs, in the provision of water services. Neither PPPs nor related design, build and operate arrangements are precursors to the privatisation of water services. Such arrangements involve the contracting of private sector expertise to perform functions on behalf of contracting water authorities. Assets remain in the full ownership of the relevant authority or group water scheme. Such arrangements represent the best way forward for the development and renewal of our water services infrastructure. They can provide value for money and the application of the latest specialist expertise. They give independent assurance that legal obligations relating to the protection of human health and the environment are being complied with when water services are being delivered. All my Department's capital funding of new water supply and waste water treatment infrastructure is subject to an assessment of the suitability of the project for procurement as a PPP. That is a long way from privatisation.

I would like to discuss the issue of domestic water charges. If I may be excused the pun, it seems that there has been a deliberate attempt to muddy the waters in this regard. I stress that the Bill before the House does not provide for or facilitate the re-introduction of domestic water charges. The Government's position on water charges is not changed in any way by this Bill. The Local Government (Financial Provisions) Act 1997, which specifically precludes charging for domestic water services, remains in force and will continue to apply after the Bill has been enacted.

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