Denis Naughten (Roscommon-South Leitrim, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I have the weight of the Opposition on my shoulders.

As I said to the Minister of State privately, I am not going to give him a clear run on this issue. I have strong views about water. In my county currently, one in every four people cannot drink the water from the tap. I believe, therefore, that I would be abdicating my responsibility as a public representative if I did not come into the House to express their concerns and anger in regard to what is going on in our county and in many other communities around the country. At this time there are 30 communities around the country with a boil-water notice in place. It is important that their issues are raised here.

The way this House is being treated and the way this legislation is being rammed through is a disgrace. The excuse that it must be completed by 1 January is pathetic. It could just as easily be 1 February if we wanted, to allow for proper debate and proper consultation in the national Parliament on the issue. A couple of months ago in the debate that took place on the Seanad we were told how important this Chamber was, but now we are being insulted with what is going on today.

Leaving that aside, we have 30 communities where there is a boil-water notice in place and one in four people in my county cannot drink tap water. For the past three years there has been a boil-water notice in place for the town of Castlerea. These people face at least another 12 months of boiling water before their issue is resolved. This is not good enough. It is not good enough in this day and age that people must tolerate this situation. It is not just that the water is not safe to drink. At certain times of the year, the water coming from the taps looks more like stout than water. The idea of people having to pay for water that they cannot use to brush their teeth is unacceptable.

I have submitted an amendment to this Bill, but it will not be accepted. However, it should have been properly debated in the House. My amendment was to provide that where there is a boil-water notice in place, people should not have to pay for that water. I hope the Minister of State will consider this proposal before the legislation is rammed through the House. Not only would this give some acknowledgement to the people who have had to live for years with a boil-water notice, it would also put pressure on Irish Water to ensure it upgrades supplies in those particular areas as a priority. It is not good enough that people must wait months and years before a boil-water notice is lifted from their supply. This is not a Third World country. We are supposed to be a first world country, but we cannot drink the water from our taps because it is not good enough. It is a gross insult to these people for legislation to be put through the House that will introduce water charges for water that people cannot drink or use to brush their teeth.

I do not have a major difficulty with what is proposed in the legislation, once water and wastewater services remain in public ownership and are fully accountable to this Parliament and to local authorities around the country. It is a damning indictment of what is happening that we cannot have a proper debate here on such an important issue, on what is a basic human right. It is imperative that the legislation include a provision to allocate an adequate unmetered allowance of water for every person in the country to meet basic daily needs. This is not included in the legislation and that is a significant flaw. It should be included. People should have the right to water as a fundamental right.

On the issue of metering, I ask the Minister of State, in his summing up, to justify the introduction of metering. He will make the argument that the objective behind metering is water conservation, and none of us could disagree with the need to try to cut wastage or unnecessary use of water. However, the difficulty is that one-third of homes in this country will not be metered but will have a flat rate charge applied to them. Can the Minister of State explain how a flat-rate charge will improve conservation? We were told this was the ethos behind metering, but if one-third of houses will not have a meter installed, how can we talk of conservation? These houses are in rural areas. How is the flat rate to be calculated? Will it be based on the size of the house, the size of the household or geographic location? How will it be calculated? There are massive variations in the flat rate charge in the United Kingdom.

Another proposal included in the legislation is a charge for water going in and water going out. When we dealt with the septic tank legislation earlier this year, the Minister stated in black and white at the Oireachtas committee that there would be no charge for water going out. However, there is specific provision for this in the initial draft of the legislation.

It is being rammed through so quickly that no one has had an opportunity to see the subsequent drafts. In the original draft of the Bill as published, provision is made for charging for water out. How can the Minister of State justify this when the Minister gave a categoric commitment on the public record at a committee meeting there would not be a charge for water out? Not only will people have to pay for the water that comes out of the taps, but they will also have to pay for flushing the toilet.

See this speech in context