Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I am concerned that the debate on Second Stage of the Bill is to be guillotined. Whether it is needed, is another matter. When we deal with substantial issues such as this and the property tax that will have a direct impact on the people, the guillotine seems to be used but not when we deal with matters of less significance. That is not the way to proceed.

I do not have a principled objection to water metering, but is not to say I am happy with the Bill. Metering can only happen where there is an absolute guarantee that the object is resource management and targeting waste. It makes sense to do this because it is very costly to provide wastewater treatment plants and keep on upgrading plants to make sure there are no leaks in the system. The public should not, however, be targeted for essential water supplies. The Minister has to find a fair and equitable formula. This applies also to wastewater.

There is a perception that there is a great deal of water in this country and there is, more in the west than in the east but it is very expensive to treat and harvest. I am a member of the Oireachtas Joint Committee on the Environment, Transport, Culture and the Gaeltacht. At one of its meetings strong points were made about the River Shannon. I pointed out that I lived where the River Liffey predominated, 66% of the river flows through County Kildare. It is the major source of water for the eastern region - Dublin, parts of Kildare, Wicklow and Meath. It is a managed river and it is perfectly possible to deal in the same way with the issues that cause concern on the River Shannon. It is a resource that needs to be used in a productive way to deal with its flooding problems and provide a water supply for parts of the country that are under-resourced.

The way in which the population has been settled poses particular challenges. It makes the system very expensive because pipes extend to small settlements, 88% of the population obtains its drinking water from sources treated by a local authority and 6% from sources treated by private and individual group wells. As these figures come from the Environmental Protection Agency, I presume no one will dispute their accuracy. Some local authorities are better than others at managing the resource.

Kerry has a leakage rate of 66% when the national average is 42%. We have to deal with this infrastructure problem before people will buy into this initiative. The Consumers Association of Ireland also raised this matter with the environment committee and the need to have a reliable supply. It stated disruption to supply during either hot or freezing weather, along with climate change, is a problem that needs to be factored into any consideration of water supply. I agree with the association's argument that a flat-rate charge will completely alienate people and not be about resource management. There has to be a reasonable water allowance and factoring in of different types of family or household types.

I am convinced water supply is on a knife edge in the east. In my town, Leixlip, Intel is a wet industry which is very important to the town's population of 16,000 as well as to the national economy. If we are to continue to attract that kind of investment, we need to have a secure supply of water.

I am also concerned about the privatisation of Irish Water. I know it has been said that this will not happen. However, I feel there will be an attempt to privatise it. The committee heard of cases in some countries, including France, where the water companies were privatised but had to be re-nationalised like in the case of the West Link toll bridge on the M50. I regret the committee had not fully deliberated on the issue of Irish Water when it was formally announced that the agency would be set up. I do not know why the committee was asked to do this work when it was not allowed to conclude it or have some of its deliberations taken into consideration when the legislation was drawn up.

I have seen some fantastic examples of people trying to minimise their own use of water. I have also seen great efficiencies in water use by public bodies. My local authority, Kildare County Council, has been extraordinarily good in managing waste water, providing a modern supply to Leixlip and managing the upgrade of Osberstown. It is essential the leaking pipes issue is dealt with. Local authority staff will be well-placed to identify the location of many of these leaks. Metering will show areas where there is waste both in public and private water supplies. People should not be penalised for this, so long as they put it right in a timely way.

We have been told leaflets, 2 million overall, will be delivered to every household. When I checked the census, it stated there are 2 million households. However, it is interesting - and annoying - that we are told there are 1.8 million households when it comes to the property tax. What happened to the other 200,000 households? It does matter that we have accurate figures for these situations.

I will be putting down an amendment for a free allowance based on the British figures for consumption. However, its example of privatisation is one we should not follow. In principle, I am not opposed to metering but I am concerned with flat-rate charges which will be resisted if introduced. I am also totally opposed to the privatisation of the water supply.

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