Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

As I said to the Deputy last week, he supports everybody who pays, who does not pay and who cannot pay. It is true that because of particular circumstances there is always a coterie of people who would find it very difficult to make any payment. We have had difficulties in the past with various other schemes and there has always been a facility to deal with that.

The insurance companies have been vocal about leaks in the houses, in particular in winter time when pipes can burst. This is always, and has always been, a feature of insurance for homes and houses and people have become very used to taking precautions, depending on the severity of the winter, so that pipes would not burst and leaks would not occur when they are away. The concern is not really an imaginary hundreds of thousands of litres of water leaking but the destruction of the house. A very small amount of water can destroy houses which have been carefully looked after by the people who own them. One would hope that would not happen, that people would take precautions and that the internal water systems in their homes would be capable of withstanding heavy frost or whatever. It is the destruction of the house and its contents which is always of interest here.

As I said, we will deal with all of these questions next week-----

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