Timmy Dooley (Clare, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

That is my wish, with the permission of the House. I thank the Acting Chairman.

I welcome the opportunity to contribute to this important debate. It is widely accepted that across the political divide there is a recognition that clean water is a scarce resource, it is an expensive resource to produce, and it is right that there is an appropriate legislative framework in which the water resource is managed. There are and will be greater challenges as the population grows and as the need for water, particularly in areas around the east coast, especially the Dublin conurbation, is addressed. Dublin City Council has pursued various activities to ensure the future secure supply of clean water and there has been much debate in that regard. Dr. John Tierney, who was recently appointed head of this new water body and whom I wish well, is somebody who has had a view on how the east coast in particular should be provided for, but I disagree fundamentally with him. I disagree fundamentally with Dublin City Council on its desire to extract water from the River Shannon, particularly from Lough Derg, and it is something about which I have considerable concern.

Unfortunately, the Bill is a reflection of the slipshod way the Government has sought to deal with really important issues. I would appear that it has learned nothing from the fiasco of the household charge. It seems the Government is rushing, if the House will pardon the pun, to plug the leak in the public finances. It sees a soft opportunity to levy a water charge - it is another tax - rather than putting in place an appropriate methodology to charge for that water resource. I do not want to be overly political, but it appears that they are making it up as they go along. The Government started out from the initial position that it wants to raise additional revenues, and my party accepts that.

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