Damien English (Meath West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Acting Chairman for allowing me to speak on the Water Services Bill 2013. The Bill is a reforming measure and is long overdue - even the Deputy who spoke before me would agree to that much. A Bill with reforms of this nature was needed a long time ago and could have saved the State a great deal of money.

Water is everywhere in Ireland. It is often a curse, coming endlessly from the sky, swelling rivers, flooding land, and, sadly, often flooding people's homes. Despite the frequency of its appearance here and the fact that it is a source of complaint in almost every Irish conversation, it is also a precious resource, and sometimes we forget this. Water is vital to life. Around 80% of our bodies are water. Hydration is important to good health. Clean water is important to sanitation.

Water is a vital input in farming and in certain industries, including the pharmaceutical and chemical industries and food processing, all of which are key exporting sectors. Quality and consistency of supply are important to all these sectors, but our ageing and under-pressure delivery systems are challenged by these demands. Climate change and our still-growing population are other risk factors. The recent cold weather spells of 2009 and 2010 dramatically highlighted the pressures the system was under and did further damage to them. Average leakage levels are as high as 40%. We would not tolerate such losses in any other sector, whether oil, electricity or money.

At issue is not normal rainwater but clean, highly treated water, which costs the State, through 34 local authorities, more than €1.2 billion to collect, treat and distribute. Only our business community contributes to the cost of this resource, with €200 million coming in from metering in this sector. A further €1 billion must be sought from other budgets and services. Often at local authority level this falls back on ratepayers and, therefore, businesses are hit again. These are the same people we expect to create jobs. This is hardly fair. Those who suggest domestic water metering is an example of unfairness should reflect on this. I accept that we must get the balance right and ensure that water remains affordable and that a certain amount is made available at a reasonable price, but we must spread the cost of water along with changing people's attitude to water.

When we speak about fairness we should also reflect that nearly 150,000 homes in this State rely on private water sources. These are generally rural dwellings supplied by wells which require the homeowner to pay for pumping and treatment. This morning I listened to a debate on "Today with Pat Kenny" on domestic services and water infrastructure which gave the impression that it costs no money to live in rural areas. That is not the case, however. There are benefits to life in both urban and rural areas but sometimes higher costs are incurred by living in certain areas. When it comes to harvesting and treating water and operating septic tanks, there is a high cost to living in a rural area. We must bear that in mind when we discuss rates.

More than 170,000 people in rural Ireland are in group water schemes. These people understand what water metering involves and they often have experience of being levied for capital investments in their schemes. These realities cannot be ignored if we want to prevent another economic boom and bust cycle. Meanwhile, more than 1 million homes are washing cars, watering gardens and flushing toilets with highly treated water that costs €1 billion to produce. I agree with the previous speaker that we have to encourage water harvesting. It is regrettable that it was not a condition of planning many moons ago, although water conservation and harvesting is now a condition in all commercial and industrial projects. Increasing numbers of people are installing systems to collect water, whether the simple barrel under the gutters or the more sophisticated system of underground tanks. If we need to encourage this behaviour through incentives and grants we should consider ways of doing so. As people learn to respect water more they might decide to invest in collecting water for other uses.

The leakage rates indicate that water is not always getting to its destination. Our distribution system has serious leakage problems due to the age of pipes and other infrastructure in many towns. This can be fixed only through capital investment by the Government. Sadly, however, we do not have easy access to the money we need to upgrade the system and prevent leakage. Given that public investment is in such short supply, the proposal to make Irish Water a subsidiary makes sense. Deputy Mattie McGrath might not realise this idea was not taken directly from the Minister's head. A proper procedure was followed in terms of research and debate among experts to decide which was the best State body to manage our water resources. Several speakers argued that Bord Gáis may not be the most suitable body to manage the system but I note with interest that when that company sought to raise €500 million last November it was swamped with offers totalling €6.5 billion. The markets are generally right when they invest their money. I recognise that specific issues will have to be ironed out but Bord Gáis is seen as a body that can spend this money properly. This debt issuance also shows that the markets are confident about Ireland's infrastructure and, by extension, the potential for growth in the economy. It is positive news that people are willing to invest in this country.

When I started out in politics in the late 1990s and early 2000s the phrase, "Celtic tiger" cropped up so often that I began to despise it. It appeared in every debate and conversation irrespective of whether it was relevant to the topic. I was probably guilty of this myself. Now, however, we refer to the troika in every debate. The impression has been given that the troika is forcing people to pay water charges. That is not necessarily the case. Reform of our water system is long overdue. It is not right to pour €500 million of treated water down the Suwannee every year. The need for reform was recognised by Fine Gael while we were in opposition and this is why we developed the NewERA policy, which includes proposals for investing in water infrastructure in order to save the State money in the long term.

It is not sensible to provide a water service that costs €1.2 billion if only €200 million is received in return and up to 40% of the treated product is seeping into the ground. Ireland is the last EU or OECD country to introduce domestic water metering. There is no point in pretending water costs nothing when somebody else is paying dearly for it. Once we realise every resource has a cost we will respect it and care for it appropriately. Investment in our public water system has the potential to create 2,000 jobs in the metering phase over two years. I recognise these are not permanent jobs but they will keep people going until investments in services and infrastructure can create long-term and sustainable employment. Every effort should be made to ensure small contractors with local knowledge and expertise are employed during the installation phase. Questions remain about who will be asked to do this work.

I acknowledge the involvement of the water services staff of our county councils through service level agreements and secondments lasting until 2017 at the earliest. They will probably be involved beyond that date given that they possess the skills we require. Many local authorities, including Meath County Council and Westmeath County Council in my area, are leaders in this sector. They know how to spend resources to best effect in constructing infrastructure but in many cases they lacked the money to do so. They also have the local knowledge and expertise needed to turn Irish Water into a success story. In light of the doubts expressed by Deputy Mattie McGrath and others about the new role of State bodies in providing water services, it is important that local authorities in which people have confidence are also involved. The right blend will guarantee a proper service. The needs of small communities in rural areas like counties Meath, Westmeath and Cavan should not be forgotten or overlooked by a national entity focused on the so-called bigger picture. The national entity will be able to deliver efficiencies of scale but it is important that we do not neglect smaller areas. The Minister, Deputy Hogan, recently cleared the way for €2.2 million to be spent on the Kells-Oldcastle water supply scheme. It is important that schemes like this do not fall by the wayside when a bigger entity takes over to concentrate on urban centres. Local authorities can play a role in this regard and the representative voice of local councillors should not be ignored.

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