Michelle Mulherin (Mayo, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the senior Minister and the two Ministers of State. I was listening to the contributions of Fianna Fáil Members in opening the debate on this Private Members' Bill. I was taken by the praise for it and the idea that there was a great principle behind it, that it was very succinct, that it was clear what it was about and that it could be encapsulated in a few words. One must suspend reality to take seriously the arguments made by Fianna Fáil Members on this issue. It is a red herring.

There is no acknowledgement of the fact that in the way water charges are currently levied on commercial premises the concept of water in, water out is applied. That is what people who avail of both a water supply and wastewater treatment facility pay for. They are separated because in some instances people have a septic tank rather than a wastewater treatment facility. In all the time I served on a local authority, I never heard of a direction coming from Fianna Fáil-led Governments in cases of boil water or other notices that people should not be charged for water whether they were commercial or domestic users. People throughout the country are used to various notices about their water but in all the time I served on a council, there was never a direction or legislation not to charge people because the water was substandard. It was a case of carrying on. This issue will be addressed. The energy regulator is making provision for allowances where the water supply is not up to standard to ensure people receive a concession on their charges. Fianna Fáil's argument is a red herring.

The kernel of the issue is Fianna Fáil presided over a water services capital investment plan that ground to a halt. I had a great deal of experience in this regard as a member of Mayo County Council. The polluter pays principle was implemented as part of the interpretation of an EU directive. It was implemented in unique style by Fianna Fáil, which meant that a local authority had to come up with a share of the funding. That was levied and fell foursquare on commercial users. The problem in Mayo was that when we ran out of planning levies to make up our portion of the polluter pays contribution, we had no hope of delivering water and sewerage schemes. Raw sewage to this day is pumped into the bay in Belmullet but the bay was designated as a protected area under the shellfish directive. This meant that not only could the council be sued by Europe if the quality water diminished by allowing raw sewage to be pumped into the bay, a case could be taken by the EPA. The position was similar in Foxford and Charlestown. There are leaks all over the system. Ballina, which is where I am from, is the largest town in the county and there are leaks all over the town's water network. Businesses, including hotels, are unable to operate. Such was the condition of the pipes that once a section a pipe was repaired, it burst further along the road. It was like an old tyre. When one repairs a puncture, the pressure increases in the next weakest part. It was an absolute disaster and Fianna Fáil had no plan to resolve this.

We have a plan and that is Irish Water. According to the two year capital programme the Government published, €41 million will be invested in my county, of which €21 million will be used to implement water schemes with the balance spent on long overdue wastewater treatment plans in areas where SACs are polluted. Nothing would have been done under Fianna Fáil's plan. That is the point of principle. This is the problem we were faced with and had to resolve because the party did nothing about it. Counties such as mine with a low rates base and less development were never in the running. That is why large urban centres had wastewater and sewage treatment plants and we did not. The test for Irish Water is whether the schemes that have been on a list forever and a day will come to fruition. That will happen. That was a point of principle Fianna Fáil never cared to address when it was in government.

This is a populist Bill, which is true to form for the party. The debate should be about affordability. People should be asked to pay something towards their water supply and it should be framed in a way that encourages them to conserve water and prevent water wastage. I made a submission to the Minister when he issued his draft water charges policy. The CER has been given a framework and Irish Water must take on surplus staff from local authority water services departments. I contended in my submission that it may cost €2 billion up to 2023 to take the additional staff on. While they may have to be taken on, that cost should be included in the calculation of water charges.

The household allowance is 30,000 litres. In a rural area of my county, the domestic allowance for a group water scheme is 225,000 litres but this will be reduced to 30,000 litres. We have to be realistic about household allowances and they need to be increased. At the end of the day, we are asking everyone to pay for water, which is right, but let us not crucify them. The CER will come up with a formula based on the parameters it has been given but it is down to the Government to consider affordability. More problems will be visited on the doorsteps of Government Members if affordability is not tackled. We have to be realistic about charges. Building the capital infrastructure is a massive challenge but we cannot heap on all the charges now. There is a strong case for spreading the cost of the investment in badly needed infrastructure and I have only given one example in County Mayo.

It is also an opportune time to examine the issue of water fluoridation. Since the inception of the policy, there have been many advances in science, understanding and so on. Considering the many concerns validly raised by citizens about adding something to water, it would be opportune for Irish Water, whether in conjunction with the Department of Health or one of our universities, to investigate the pros and cons of this policy. We can examine the addition of fluoride to water with fresh eyes while taking into account public health concerns.

I support the Government's position on the legislation. This a case of Fianna Fáil Members once again coming forward with passion and bleeding hearts. To take them seriously at all, one has to suspend reality, go into the daze and enjoy the performance. There is no truth or depth to it whatsoever. God help the people if they ever get into power again.

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