Seán Fleming (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I am thankful for the opportunity to speak. I thank my colleague Deputy Barry Cowen for tabling this motion on behalf of Fianna Fáil. It is very timely as there are many issues pertaining to Irish Water that need to be discussed. They are being discussed on the doorsteps of the people, who see the meters being installed on their streets. Contractors are working in several areas around the country. This issue is now becoming a very lively, hot topic.

We should not be talking about water charges as the charge is, plainly and simply, a new water tax. There is no new service and no water of better quality will be provided. All that is happening is the installation of water meters to collect money. Over 1 million households will have no meters when the bills arrive. It is meaningless, therefore, to link metering to water quality, water supply and water conservation. The bills will arrive regardless of whether one has a meter. We are installing meters only to collect taxes.

The people know what happened with the local property tax. They were promised that it would be spent on local services by local authorities but the Government raided the kitty and took the money back in order to spend €180 million setting up the new super-quango that we call Irish Water. Some €85 million has been spent on consultants, PR and bonuses for staff, many of whom have transferred from full-time pensionable positions in local authorities. The way the Government has set about this reminds me of only one possible phenomenon , namely the way the private sector works when greed takes over. The Government is setting up an organisation that will be ripe for privatisation from the very beginning. It will have a customer base for a saleable product, as with Eircom and the mobile telephone companies. It will be asked how many customers there are and how much money can be extracted from them each year. It will be advocated that these figures should be calculated and that Irish Water should be sold. The Government is privatising Bord Gáis and has done a lot in this regard. It has privatised the customer base. As sure as night follows day, if Fine Gael remains in government it will privatise the water services, although I do not know whether it will be on a national or regional basis. I do not know whether the Government will follow its counterparts in England, the Tory party, with which it is associated, or whether it will operate on a national basis.

The issue of pricing is very serious. Everyone knows the charge of €240 is only the start and that it will double as time passes. Most people will see that the charge of €240 is only to get the foot in the door. The Government has very cleverly said the Commission for Energy Regulation will deal with pricing. However, it will be so restricted it will be almost like a puppet of the Minister. It will be told to the last penny what the average charge is to be and that if it does not come up with this it will have to go back to the drawing board. The Government will use the regulator as a way of saying charging has nothing to do with it. On the other hand, the Minister will be telling the regulator at every hand’s turn precisely what it should do. The regulator will be almost like a ventriloquist's dummy. The Government has undermined the regulator significantly. It will pretend the regulator is independent but it will be doing the Minister's bidding on every single occasion.

We noted the attitude of the Government last autumn when it voted down the proposals on freedom of information, including in respect of Irish Water. Under pressure from ourselves, it had to do a U-turn in this regard. In recent weeks, we brought in legislation to bring Irish Water under the remit of the Ombudsman but the Government has not agreed to that. I hope it will do a similar U-turn because, as matters stand, the people will have nowhere to go if they have complaints.

I have tabled parliamentary questions asking who looks after the consumer. The response is that it is the Commission for Energy Regulation. The regulator will not engage in personal disputes about the quality of water or water supplies cut off for a period. When will all the households that the Government says will be metered be metered?

On foot of the press release issued by the Government yesterday, a few issues need to be highlighted. When the public sees what was in the press release, it will have genuine cause for fear. The Government states the allowance for a standard house will be 30,000 litres, which is but 20% of what it states is the average volume that will be consumed per household, namely 140,000 l.

There is no free allowance. They are paying for 80% of it, but the Government is giving the impression to some people that they will have free water if they conserve it. They will not. They will be paying for 80% of everything that comes in their door, based on the Government figures.

Then the Government moves on to the issue of the allowance for children. However, the press release states that the allowance for each child under 18 is aligned to entitlement to child benefit. How long has the Government been telling us that child benefit cannot be touched? Now we have a situation in which child benefit is being linked to Irish Water and water bills - this is in the Government press release issued yesterday, in the last paragraph on page 2.

On page 3 of yesterday's press release, it is stated that Irish Water charges will have to take into account the quality of services provided and due regard will have to be had to these matters. What about the issue of limescale destroying household electric kettles and shower units and clogging up pipes? It is stated that these issues will be referred to the regulator. As the Minister of State knows, the CER has a zero role in regard to the quality of water. What is in this document is a fudge, a half-story, an untruth. The Minister of State and I know the EPA is the regulator when it comes to water quality, but there are two regulators for Irish Water, with the other regulator dealing with pricing. Is the EPA going to tell the CER that there is a poor-quality water service in a particular townland or street, and it will adjust its charges accordingly? There are two regulators and, ultimately, the Minister can tell the CER what to do with the price. Thankfully, the EPA is independent of the Minister and it will not take such nonsense from the Minister in terms of telling it how to do its job on a daily basis. Therefore, we will have the Minister and the energy regulator involved in setting the charges, whereas the EPA is the regulator for water quality. It is a recipe for disaster before this even starts, and the Government has not sorted that out.

I then look at question No. 11 regarding what happens people who do not pay their bills. The Government states that it will go to court and that the legislation will not allow water to be turned off. However, Irish Water is empowered by the legislation, which the Government rammed through here by guillotine without a proper vote before Christmas, to reduce water pressure in order to restrict water supply. It is time we knew what is going to happen to people in financial difficulty. Irish Water will give them a dribble of water that would fill an electric kettle so they will not die of dehydration, and that is what the Government will call a high-quality supply of water. I ask the EPA to adjudicate on whether that constitutes a water supply of proper quality. It should not be the energy regulator or Irish Water that determines that, and I hope others will deal with it.

One of the most alarming issues is mentioned in the next paragraph of the same question, No. 11, which states that the free allowance will be available only to households that pay their charges in a timely manner. As with Bord Gáis and Eircom at present, people get 14 days to pay their bills. If somebody has not paid their Irish Water bill within 14 days of receiving the bill, they will lose their free allowance - that is in the Government press release. Therefore, there is no free allowance for anyone in financial difficulty who is a day late in paying his or her bill, so the free allowance is optional, only received if the person pays. People will probably have to sign up for a direct debit to qualify for the free allowance. The Government is linking it to the prompt payment of bills, which is a disgrace.

The press release then refers to non-principal private residences and how the Government is going to separate people with holiday homes from people who have a second house that is rented out. The Minister of State has not explained that issue. However, we have learned two things. The Minister of State has linked the bill for Irish Water to children's allowance - it is in the Government's document - and he has said the free allowance is conditional on quick and up-front payment, probably by direct debit. This free allowance is a hoax and a cod. It is not available for everyone. For people with big families it is being linked to child benefit, and the Government will not give them their free allowance of any description if they do not pay. Shame on the Minister of State.

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