Fergus O'Dowd (Louth, Fine Gael)

I am trying to answer the Deputy's question. The money must come from somewhere and we believe it is reasonable and fair that every household should pay for the water after they have been given a free allowance to which it can work. Internationally conservation results from metering. I encourage you to go to your local authority and ask it to show you - as I did with my local authority - the effect of metering on commercial water supplies and how the volume used reduced significantly.

See this speech in context