Alan Farrell (Dublin North, Fine Gael)

I welcome the Government's decision to provide for an early discussion on this matter. In light of some of the scaremongering tactics of recent weeks, it is relevant for us to debate this issue, get information into the public domain and begin this long-term process. It is readily acknowledged that it will take months, if not years, to roll out this system. The enormity of the task facing the Government will not stand in the way of its ambition to provide for considerable investment in this infrastructure and this long-term project, which will need to be worked out on a phased basis. It is a marathon, not a sprint. As a nation, we need to acknowledge the reality that a great deal of information will emerge at different stages between now and 2014, so that we are prepared to handle the emerging details in a constructive and balanced fashion. We would love to have the all the answers here and now. I agree with some of what other speakers have said about information. One of the difficulties faced by this Government is that it has to deal with agreements that were made by the previous Administration. In many cases, nothing happened after the agreement was reached and before this Government took office in March 2012.

In light of the substantial changes that have to be made on a societal level, it is not too early to start bringing people on board with regard to this issue. Up to this point, most of our people have never been asked to pay for water on a utility basis. Paying for water usage is no different from paying for a utility such as gas or electricity so we can light and heat our homes.

However, this is an extraordinary development, taking place in extraordinary times. I do not take this enormous shift in the perspective of the people for granted. I am very confident that my constituents in Dublin North are, in no uncertain terms, fully aware of the impact of the failure of successive Governments to invest in the water service network. This week alone, I have received numerous emails from Fingal County Council regarding water shut-downs in the area. From a consumer perspective, this is an enormous problem. From the taxpayer's perspective, it is completely unacceptable.

During the election campaign, it was quite clear that water charges were coming down the line. Charging was in our party's manifesto, and had already been agreed to in the national recovery plan and troika agreement laid out by the former Fianna Fáil-Green Party Government. However, we acknowledge this is perhaps the most difficult time to introduce a discussion on a new utility bill.

If this economic crisis has taught us anything, it is not to take anything for granted. If we identify waste, we must address it. We cannot just turn a blind eye because that is the easy thing to do. Taxpayers have forked out over a billion annually for a substandard water system. As well documented, 40% of the water we pay for is lost through leaks. If this were true for the gas, oil or electricity network, we would be making international headlines.

Ireland is the last country in the eurozone to take responsibility for its usage of the water resource. It is one of the many wasteful legacies of the Celtic tiger, during which we allowed our money to be poured down the drain on bad infrastructure when we had the means to invest in something for the future.

Let me refer to an email I received this afternoon from a senior staff officer in Fingal County Council with regard to three areas in Dublin North. The issue affects approximately 20,000 homes. The email states that, on Rath Lane in the Swords area, water was to be restored in seven minutes but has been unavailable since early morning. In the Baldolyle area, in Stapolin , Grange Park, Castlerosse and Red Arches – I refer to a part of the Dublin North-East constituency which is still in Fingal – the water was restored at 3.30 p.m. this afternoon having been unavailable for almost six hours. In Ballough, in the northern Lusk area and north of Swords, a very large area was without water for most of the morning due to the third or fourth breach in the mains in as many weeks.

As it stands, there are 36 different approaches to the provision of water in this country, that is, one in each local authority. If we are to justify such vast expenditure, we must change our approach to a unified, financially efficient process. The industry must become a properly regulated industry in respect of which the end user, the customer, can have legitimate expectations regarding service quality and delivery. Thus, if there are extenuating circumstances leading to water stoppages in years to come, the consumer can, in conjunction with the regulator, call for services to be restored.

There was a system failure on the part of the previous Government in that it failed to invest in water infrastructure. It is not helpful to use scare tactics and misleading figures continually. Deputy Collins used a number of figures for water charges, ranging widely from €100 to €700 or €800. I cannot imagine these charges being incurred in a home in which people are conscious they have to pay for water exceeding a certain generous quota, as has been stated repeatedly by the Minister, Deputy Hogan, for over a year.

Under the Fine Gael-Labour Government, we are attempting to reinvent the State. The provision of a unified and efficient water network is a significant shift that will reflect a new era of infrastructure, one that is responsible for its usage, mindful of our environmental impact and respectful of the value of its resources. Irish Water, or Uisce Éireann, will be established with this ethos in mind. It is one of the infrastructural developments undertaken by this Government and will create up to 2,000 jobs per annum, attract investment and bring us into line with our European counterparts. This will be a commodity company that will work for homes, businesses and the country.

The previous Administration entered into an agreement but it failed abysmally to honour it on behalf of the State. As repeated by the Minister, Deputy Hogan, and the Minister of State, Deputy O'Dowd, we want the best water system in Europe. There is no reason we cannot achieve that. We are the best in the world at so many things that there is no reason we cannot aspire to this also.

We cannot continue to live with a substandard water network, reliant on fragmented structures unable to achieve economies of scale. I am happy I can say to my constituents, who put up with water shortages three or four times a year, that this Government has, in a relatively short period since taking office, started the ball rolling in an attempt to address this problem. That is more than the previous Administrations ever achieved in their lifetimes.

We have no choice but to do this in the most effective and resourceful way possible. It is a mammoth challenge for both householders and the Government. I call on the Department to provide the public with as much information as possible throughout this entire process over the coming months.

Water meters will be a reality, regardless of unhelpful scaremongering that creates anxiety for householders and endorses the same wasteful practices that have brought us to this point. I hope practical policies will win out over those seeking political gain.

Water is essential and we are not in the business of cutting off vital services to those who cannot afford it. Bord Gáis has been selected as the provider of the new service due to its proven record dealing with customers in financial difficulty. If we are to clarify one thing at this point, it is that there is an important distinction between those who cannot pay and who will not pay. Those who cannot pay will not be left without water. Those who can afford the bill and choose not to pay will be addressed accordingly and this is the right approach if we are to respect those who pay their bills and obey the law.

When I was a councillor in the Malahide electoral ward of Fingal County Council, I was on the audit committee of the local authority for two years, having been Mayor of Fingal in 2007 and 2008. One of the startling figures that was presented to the audit committee was that Fingal had 300 km of pipes that required replacement. We should bear in mind that Fingal is a very new area by comparison with towns without a large number of new houses. Some 300 km of piping required replacement. It cost Fingal County Council approximately €30 million to replace 10 km of the water network in the preceding five years. My figures are based on recollection. If they are correct, it would take decades to replace the network that needs to be replaced, never mind pipes that fail in the meantime, the asbestos pipes that were installed in the 1970s or wooden pipes that were found in the Swords area two or three years ago. That is the scale of the difficulty we face.

See this speech in context