Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

The Minister, Deputy Kelly, has been left with delivering that particular demon child to the public. I wish him good luck with that. He will need all of his supposed hurling skills to do so.

We have been told the water we will receive will be of Ballygowan quality. The Minister, Deputy Bruton, pronounced from on high that Ballygowan water is what we are going to get, which is a little ironic, in particular for the 23,000 people in Roscommon who are forced to buy bottled water every week - not Ballygowan water because they cannot afford it - in order to ensure they and their families have access to drinking water.

We have had a very successful tourism season. The Minister, Deputy Kelly, is a former executive of Fáilte Ireland. One can only imagine what tourists will think when they arrive into wonderful establishments here only to be met with notices on A4 sheets saying that water and ice at that establishment comes from elsewhere and that customers can be assured the water being provided is clean. One can only imagine what people will think when they visit facilities at which they receive a wonderful welcome but are faced with such notices. Also, one can only imagine what that will add to the cost base of the business, for which it will not be compensated.

Boil water notices aside, people with medical conditions require additional water. While I am aware there is to be a cap in this respect we have not yet had any specifics in that regard. People with kidney, heart and other conditions need certainty in respect of their water requirements and a definition of "cap". Preferably, they should be given an exemption. I encourage the Minister and Minister of State to encourage the highly paid executives in Irish Water to become familiar with the Sale of Goods and Supply of Services Act 1980, which legislation governs consumer protection in this country. It is the legislation which sets out what a contract is, namely, a formal agreement between two or more people, enforceable by law. A contract relates to the purchase of goods of services. As such when people fill out the forms from the pack provided by Irish Water and send them back they will then be bound by contract. Under the Act, the purchaser, namely, the consumer, has a number of rights. The goods must be of merchantable quality and fit for purpose. The type of black-brown water about which Deputy Michael McGrath spoke, which we have all seen and know about, which destroys machinery and equipment, could not be described as being of merchantable quality or fit for purpose. Therefore, as the goods are not fit for purpose and do not meet the standard of the contact, the consumer has a range of rights, including the right to compensation and to have their money returned. The Small Claims Court will be very busy next year as people hold Irish Water to account under the Sale of Goods and Supply of Services Act 1980 for bad service or the supply of goods not fit for purpose as they do not do what they are reasonably expected to do.

Rather than dismiss Deputy Cowen's legislation, the Minister might consider the introduction of a new regime in the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government through which that Department could work with him in avoiding a situation whereby next year people will be going to the Small Claims Court enforcing their legal rights under the Sale of Goods and Supply of Services Act 1980. It is typical of government - I do not mean Government in the sense of the current Government - Departments working in silos, which I have railed about for many years, that this Department will be funding a National Consumer Agency providing information to people about their rights, while another Department has under its aegis a body which is infringing those rights on a daily basis.

Businesses have been paying water charges to local authorities for some years. An issue on which I would like the Minister to engage is the passing by local authority executives of complaints or queries in relation to water to officials of Irish Water. Local authority executives want to to wash their hands of all water complaints. When one raises the issue with Irish Water one is told that there are queries outstanding from the local authorities.

Is it possible for the Department to have a dedicated telephone line, as in the Passport Office, so these kinds of questions can be clarified?

In fairness to Irish Water, it provides an excellent service to elected representatives and it reverts to us very efficiently. Generally and often, however, the fault lies at local authority level.

There are so many issues to be raised under the Consumer Protection Act. This is another Act with which the staff of Irish Water will need to become familiar. Under it, it is an offence for any retailer or professional to make a false and misleading claim about goods, services and prices. Therefore, it is an offence for Irish Water to tell 23,000 people that they have the best water in the world. It is an offence for the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation, Deputy Richard Bruton, to tell 23,000 people that they will have Ballygowan water. I am sure Ballygowan would not be too impressed to have its water compared to the kind of water that the people of Roscommon are currently forced to drink. Claims about the weight, ingredients, or performance of goods must be stated truthfully or else one is opening oneself up to all sorts of complaints. The Act also covers claims about pricing, funnily enough. The former Deputy Phil Hogan might like to read the provisions of the relevant section of the consumer protection legislation. He told us the average bill will be approximately €230 but we know it will be around €500. Therefore, the former Deputy Hogan could brief himself before he departs regarding his responsibility under the Consumer Protection Act 2007.

The Minister needs to provide information regarding the issue of health. Even in the packs with which we have been provided, claims about health and support for those with various conditions are quite vague. Those with the conditions in question do not need the worry of a lack of knowledge on top of everything else with which they must deal. If Irish Water made a very clear statement to address this very urgently, it would be of assistance.

Establishment costs have never been dealt with in this House. That €180 million was spent meeting start-up costs of Irish Water before expenditure of a cent on equipment or on meeting capital costs is extraordinary. This is the kind of occurrence that the Government, when in opposition, would have railed against. Surely the Minister's Department, as the parent body, owes us an explanation on where the money has gone and why it had to be spent. Surely, given the amount of expenditure separate from capital expenditure, we must ask whether the money had to be spent. We were assured that by placing Irish Water on the structure that was Bord Gáis, it would not need the kind of money that was expended. However, what we have seen is what Deputy Cowen referred to, that is, a runaway train that still has not been slowed down. Nobody has yet applied the brakes to it. That is the kind of waste of money to which people on boil water notices refer. They say the money is going on salaries and expenses and not being spent in their counties to provide capital assistance or to resolve their problems. This is why there is so much frustration throughout the country over the way in which Irish Water has been established and is doing its business.

Both the Minister and Minister of State are on different sides of an argument that is currently being waged in Roscommon. The candidate of the Minister of State, Deputy Coffey, proclaimed last night that water charges would be abolished for those on boil water notices. The candidate of the Minister, Deputy Alan Kelly, said this morning that this had not been decided yet and criticised, without naming the individual, the Minister of State's candidate. There was something on Twitter today about deleting tweets. The Minister of State might want to direct his candidate's attention to it in Roscommon. This is the kind of thing that candidates throughout the country, from both Government parties, will try to start doing. The Labour Party candidates will start blaming the Fine Gael candidates for Irish Water because it was Deputy Hogan's creation. The Minister, Deputy Alan Kelly, is now in charge and must take responsibility and ownership of the issue. He must deliver to the 23,000 people who are on boil water notices some sort of assurance that they will not have to pay the same bills those of us with a good water supply will be forced to pay. As Deputy Michael McGrath has stated, the Government should give some indication to families, particularly those with adult children living at home, that they will not be absolutely carpeted by charges to them. I refer also to families with teenagers involved in sport and a range of other activities that require the use of showers. A very good case study was presented during the summer of a lady in north Dublin who was involved in the local GAA club. She does all the washing for the club but intends to stop doing so because she has estimated that, by providing the service to her community, it will cost a fortune. These are all the models and day-to-day matters that arise and to which the former Minister, Deputy Hogan, certainly never paid attention. He never worried too much about them because he has known that by the time the bills come through the doors in January 2015, he will be looking down on us all from his cushy number in Brussels.

The Minister has got the hospital pass. He has got a ball and has got to come on and run with it. He is now the face of Irish Water. Ministers of State can always hide, except when there is good news. The Minister, Deputy Kelly, is the face of Irish Water and he is the person whom we will hold responsible on behalf of those who cannot get water services and those who are getting sick of water services. I direct the Minister again to brief himself of his responsibilities as main shareholder in Irish Water in light of the Sale of Goods and Supply of Services Act 1980 and the Consumer Protection Act 2007. Responsibilities of Irish Water in that regard are quite a mess.

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