Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

It is beyond any logic. If water going into a household is contaminated and is not fit for human consumption, how can that family be charged for it? The original legislation should have provided for an exemption from any charge for any family with a contaminated water supply. They are paying for bottled water as it is and they have other costs associated with the fact that the water is contaminated. I find it incomprehensible and I ask the Taoiseach if he accepts the basic principle that if a person's water supply is contaminated he or she should not be obliged to pay for it. It is monstrous. The Taoiseach should listen to people who are in that situation. Whatever one's views on water charges, if the water one is being asked to pay for is dangerous, may cause one to get sick or seriously ill, is contaminated and the authorities say one will have to pay for it as well, this is adding insult to injury, it is arrogance of the highest order and is illogical and incomprehensible. Does the Taoiseach accept it is a basic principle that one should not have to pay for water that is contaminated?

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