Brian Walsh (Galway West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I add my voice to those who have already welcomed the clarity and assurances finally brought to the issue of water charges. If I am to be brutally honest I have it to say that this was not the finest hour or performance in the green jersey on the part of the Government or the former Minister, Mr. Hogan. I hope the reasonable and fair proposals outlined to the House yesterday will finally bring to a close what has admittedly been a difficult chapter in this Government's history, one in which, clearly, errors and mistakes were made that, regrettably, detracted from the Government's otherwise credible performance and record in office.

While I was somewhat surprised by Deputy Cowen's reaction yesterday - he focused on what he called a U-turn - there is no doubt that the Government has made mistakes. However, it reacted by listening to the people, addressing their concerns and trying again. I do not understand how this can be seen as a bad thing. I am proud to support a government that listens, acknowledges its mistakes and is constantly willing to ask how it can do things better. That should be considered a strength in politics rather than a weakness.

While many people protested, the majority of the people I spoke to on this issue - I have spoken to hundreds - agree with the basic principle of having to contribute towards the cost of producing water. It is an expensive commodity to produce. We cannot continue to produce water to Ballygowan or bottled water standard only to have people spray it over the lawn or the car at the weekend. That is simply not sustainable. People accept the principle of paying something. While they agree with the principle of charging, however, they have valid concerns. There were concerns about the Irish Water set-up and their inability to contact Irish Water, as well as unfairness in the sense that part of a town or village might be metered while another part was looking at a flat charge regardless of usage. There was an inherent unfairness in that. People were concerned about affordability. Many people were concerned about the possible future sale of the utility - that is to say, privatisation. All of these concerns have been addressed in what the Minister introduced yesterday.

Why did we introduce so unpopular a measure? For far too long Governments have made decisions with one eye on the next general election, but that has not been so in the case of this issue. There are clear reasons this measure had to be introduced. In some parts of the country 49% of water leaks. There are far too many lead pipes in the system.

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