Barry Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

It is introducing caps on allowances for the next four years.

As Buzz Lightyear, also known as the Minister for Finance, said, these measures will possibly extend beyond that timeframe. It will surely turn out to be "to infinity and beyond." If that is the case, there will not be much conservation of water. It defies all rationale for the introduction of water charges that no conservation is being achieved.

The other main reason for the introduction of water charges, we were told, was to facilitate investment in water infrastructure, an issue in respect of which the Government has wrongly accused previous Administrations of neglect. Nothing could be further from the truth. Some €5 billion was invested in water infrastructure between 2000 and 2011, as Deputy Gabrielle McFadden will see if she checks the record.

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