Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I said that I anticipate that the CER will report shortly and publicly in respect of the "boil water" notices. I hope the Deputy understands that. The Taoiseach told him that yesterday and I will repeat it today if it is helpful.

In respect of the second issue about which the Deputy asked, as he knows, the form that has been sent out to people by Irish Water asks them to give information about medical issues. The Deputy seems not to want to trust people. Irish Water is asking, as is common in income tax reporting, for people to self-report. So that is the answer to the second question.

The third question concerned people on low incomes and the widow on social welfare whom the Deputy met. As I said on a number of occasions, at the time when the new Government was appointed, the Taoiseach and I agreed that there would be a household water support payment. It is published in all of the documents relating to the programme for Government so let me explain it and spell it out in some detail. The first point is that it will apply to anyone on the household benefits package. It will be €100 per year paid on a quarterly basis and will apply specifically to people who are on the household benefits package, including pensioners. It will apply to people on disability and carer's payments and those in receipt of domiciliary care allowance. That is an estimated figure of 410,000 households at a cost of €42 million that has been fully agreed and provided for by both parties.

See this speech in context