Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour) | Oireachtas source

This is a critical point which I want to make seriously. I know many of the Members present have listened and debated, and I have listened to them as well. Rather than have water services compete with other demands on public funds such as school buildings, hospital beds and broadband networks, the Government established Irish Water as a self-funding body that is separate from the State’s needs. Instead of being in the queue for the annual budgetary allocation, Irish Water will be able to focus on investing for the long term - the next five, 20 and 50 years that are the standard time horizon for a provider of essential services. We have set up a system that will ring-fence water investment by enabling access to capital funds separate from the State’s own needs. Can anyone imagine what would happen if the investment needs of the ESB or Bord Gáis depended entirely on the public capital programme and were in competition with all the other demands made on the State? We want to get both. We want a public capital programme and we want an investment programme for the ESB, Bord Gáis and our desperately needed water infrastructure. The position of those on the Opposition benches who talk about funding water investment and everything else via general taxation means that those vital areas would have to compete with each other and, potentially, our schools, hospitals and other infrastructure would lose out. I do not believe that is what the Opposition wants, which is why this debate is so important. We have to settle, as a country and as a people, a mechanism for effective investment that delivers the infrastructure at the best possible cost to everyone who lives in this country. Irish Water is the only mechanism that can deliver access to funds in a way that is independent of the State itself. It is just foolish to assert that general taxation can be the mechanism that secures these funds and everything else, despite much-shared agreement on the Opposition benches that this is what we need. It could happen, of course, but it would only be at the price of diverting funds from other priorities.

We are to have water charges for this one single reason: to allow us to invest in upgrading a ramshackle system that remains entirely unfit for purpose despite the best, but inadequate, efforts of previous Governments. Water charges are an investment in a cleaner environment, which will underpin our attraction to tourists and our agricultural base. They are an economic investment, vital to attracting continuing local and foreign investment. They are a vital ingredient to secure a better quality of life for every family.

Over the next ten years, we simply have to fund a programme that will cost at least €600 million a year, even to keep the current set-up in operation. The alternative is that the ugly sight we saw on last night’s television news of raw sewage polluting our precious rivers at 42 different locations, and the horrific situation that the people of Roscommon have had to endure, would spread right across the nation. The alternative would also involve widespread shortages for up to 1 million customers in the greater Dublin region, where current supply is precarious, to say the least.

We want to attract environmentally conscious tourists. We want to export food with a high-quality, green Ireland brand image. We want to attract industries that are able to access the quantities of water they need. All of this means sustained investment in our water production and sewage and effluent systems. Commercial water charges are part of that, and now we are seeking to establish a modest, affordable and capped domestic charge that will gradually be based on metered usage under the control of the consumer. Since I had the honour to become the leader of the Labour Party, in response to the many questions I have been asked, I have laid out this approach repeatedly. I am delighted to be able to say that due to the work of the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government, Deputy Alan Kelly, we have set out fair, capped, affordable charges that are set at a modest level, and there is now absolute clarity and certainty about the charges. The scaremongering on the issue from some in the Opposition will finally be seen for what it is. The new charging system is modest and affordable, as I pledged in this House in recent weeks. A single-adult household will pay €160 a year and qualify for a €100 payment in the shape of a water conservation grant from the Department of Social Protection. In other words, the net bill for a single-adult household will be just €60 a year, or approximately €1.15 a week. All other households will pay €260 a year and qualify for the same €100 water support payment. This means their net bill will be €160 a year, or approximately €3 a week. These capped charges are being introduced until the end of 2018 and the legislation being introduced will provide that a further cap, which will be equally affordable, will be introduced from 2019 on. Therefore, it is €1.15 a week for a single-adult household and a little over €3 a week for all other households. In addition, charging will not begin until January, to allow Irish Water and the Irish people sufficient time to complete the registration process. This means that no householder will see a bill before April, and when they do, that bill will be modest and affordable.

By that time, the various budgetary changes we announced last month will have taken effect.

These budgetary changes, which will be in people's salaries from January and February and their social welfare payments from December, will see a single worker on average earnings gain almost €8 per week. This will mean that Irish families will still be better off next year even when the water charges take effect. This revised pricing structure ensures certainty, simplicity and affordability. It also allows sufficient time for Irish Water to bed down as a utility, secure future investment, fully roll out metering and demonstrate that, over time, the meter can be one's friend, because we are not walking away from the core principle behind this new system - the need to conserve water. On their bills, householders will also see what their metered usage is and, if it is less than what they are paying in capped charges, they will be able to qualify for an annual rebate, so there will be a clear incentive to conserve. Denmark, for example, witnessed a 12.6% reduction in household water consumption between 1996 and 2007 following the introduction of meters and volumetric charging. Once householders see that the meter can be their ally in further reducing bills, I believe the current opposition to metering in some parts of the country will decrease.

The Department of Social Protection will be administering the water conservation grant of €100. As has been said, because of these changes, PPS numbers will no longer be required by Irish Water. Under the supervision of the Data Protection Commissioner, the PPS numbers held by Irish Water in respect of those who have already registered with and provided their details to the company will be deleted. Once again, this demonstrates that the Government has listened to those concerns and addressed them. The water conservation grant will ensure that net bills are affordable for all households. However, I am keenly aware that people also need easy payment systems. Following discussions with the Government, Irish Water will ensure that an easy-pay option is available so that customers can make part payments of as little as €5 any time they wish. Retired people and pensioners in particular have asked me about this and I am glad to say this will be the case. A full range of flexible payment options will be available, including through local post offices.

We are also addressing another concern. We are ensuring that Irish Water cannot be privatised at some future point. Any future attempt to do so would require a referendum in which the people would have their say. This bar is set so high that any reasonable person will see there is absolutely no question of Irish Water ever being privatised, nor was there to begin with. However, I accept that people want assurance on that point. When this country was on its knees and in desperate need of cash, disposing of the family silver would have been a way of raising funds. When Fianna Fáil was subject to the troika pressure, it listed a lot of those things in its plans. Happily, because of the way we managed this process, the number of things we had to do was significantly reduced. The electricity and gas networks have remained in State ownership. That was an issue.

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