Clare Daly (Dublin North, Socialist Party) | Oireachtas source

The Minister made the point that in his opinion a charge on the basis of usage is the fairest way. Does he not think the fairest way is to treat water as a public service which should be funded by our central taxation system on a progressive basis, with people consuming it based on their needs? Is he aware of international studies which reveal that the impact of the installation of water meters on consumption is a reduction of approximately 10% and that an equivalent reduction could be achieved through an education programme? The only purpose of installing a meter is to isolate the individual household supply to tee it up for privatisation in future.

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