Anthony Lawlor (Kildare North, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I might not get the opportunity next week so I welcome the deal that has been done by the Government, particularly the hard work done by the Taoiseach and the Minister for Finance. I have just heard some of the nitty-gritty and it will be an exceptionally good deal over a long period of time and I congratulate the Government on the extremely hard work it has put into this.

I welcome the Minister of State and thank him for listening to our remarks on this Bill. I spoke about this as a local authority member for some time. When I was on Kildare County Council, there were problems in Naas as a result of the well that fed the town being contaminated. There was an outbreak of serious illness in the town, but thankfully since then Naas has linked into the main treatment plant at Osberstown and the quality of the water has improved dramatically.

People are nervous about how much they will be charged. I have no problem, however, charging people for water because we invest €1.2 billion in water infrastructure. From a Government expenditure point of view, that is not sustainable. It is for that reason that I welcome the introduction of water charges. To encourage people to be more frugal in their use of water, a nominal amount should be available free and after that they should be charged for it. This investment will mean we have sustainable water supplies in future.

While the investment is being made, a lot of money will be spent locally. I want to see local businesses being given the opportunity to contract for these jobs that will be available. There is a problem at present that companies must have a turnover of €2 million, which is beyond many small businesses. I hope the Minister of State might consider reducing that figure to encourage small businesses in the community, which is our objective. A turnover of €2 million is an extraordinary amount to ask for.

I encourage people to use water more frugally. Once they do that, expenses on a day to day basis will fall. The Government should consider giving a grant for water harvesting. There are many schemes to promote it. In most households, only 30% of the water that is used needs to be treated. If we reduce the amount of water being used in a house by 70% and replace some of it with rainwater or water that has been harvested, significant savings can be made. There should be a grant scheme for people to put in place water harvesting facilities so they can tap into the rainwater supply.

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