Eoghan Murphy (Dublin South East, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Bill for two reasons, the first of which concerns Dublin, which for too long has had an inadequate water supply. We do not have sufficient supply in the system or sufficient treatment facilities. The pipes in the capital are old. They break too easily in bad weather and there is general leakage. We do not have a good wastewater treatment facility in the capital and because the water supply for the capital is on a knife-edge, when it does slip it has a major impact on a large area of the city. In recent years we saw families who did not have any water for showers, for toilets or for drinking for upwards of ten days in some parts of the city, and that cannot be allowed to happen. Apart from the discomfort it causes for people living in the city - and it is the most densely populated area in the country - it causes difficulties for people who are trying to do business or those who want to invest in the capital, which is the economic engine of the country. Our water supply has come up in conversations in this regard.

The establishment of Irish Water and the work we are doing in this Bill as a first step is incredibly important for all those reasons. It is also welcome because it is a key strand of the NewERA strategy, which was being drafted when I came into politics and which I thought had a good vision in terms of the kind of work that should have been done in the boom years, when we had the money, but was not done. It is welcome to see that work finally beginning.

The case for introducing water charges and water metering was made very well by Deputy Noel Harrington when he spoke about the different ways we use water, and waste it, and the different ways bringing in water metering and water charges could help us conserve it, bringing about greater efficiency in our lives and in the amount of money we spend on this vital resource.

The establishment of Irish Water is a positive action. It will bring about greater accountability. A patchwork of local authorities are responsible for water services at the moment, often not working together, and as a result, the overall system breaks down at those key interfaces between local authorities. However, with one public body responsible for the area we will see greater accountability and, as a result, we will have a better system, greater efficiencies in that system, and an improvement in the quality of the water we all use. The changeover period will be bumpy and we should prepare people for that, but it should not be too protracted. Otherwise, we might find ourselves picking up bad practices that will remain in the system for a number of years. Regarding the construction phase, I hope we will see small and medium-sized Irish enterprises being successful in their tendering and that Irish jobs will be created as a result.

Dealing with leakage must be the first priority of the new authority in order to reduce waste, improve the service and, ultimately, make it cheaper for everyone. I believe we will have difficulty in levying high charges in areas where there is a high degree of leakage because people living in those areas are paying for water that is wasted. That is something the regulator will need to examine.

The metering phase will take time, and not all homes will come online at once. I caution against introducing a flat charge until such time as the metering phase is complete. Instead, I would defer any water charges until all homes are metered and can be charged on a per-usage basis rather than levying an indiscriminate flat charge for all, or on a staggered basis. Flat charges on utilities are not fair. There is some concern as to whether individual apartments can be metered, and there is talk of installing a single meter for an apartment complex and dividing the cost of usage in the complex by the number of apartments. I would caution against that as well, because it is unfair. Problems will arise in the future if we are not careful. Even if it means delaying the introduction of the charge until later in 2014 or renegotiating the agreement in some way, we should pursue that avenue, because we do not want to introduce a charge that is necessary but may be perceived as unfair because of the manner in which we introduce it. That could seriously undermine what we are trying to achieve and reduce buy-in among the population, who, I believe, once the meters are in place and they can see the way in which this improves the system and saves them money, will fully support this initiative.

Those are my comments on what I believe will be a hugely important and positive development for the country. I commend the Minister on his introduction of the Bill.

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