Paudie Coffey (Waterford, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The Socialist Party and Sinn Féin have marched people up the hill on many occasions only to then abandon them. I have no doubt that they will do the same on this occasion.

Turning to the metering programme, I will respond to comments from Deputies suggesting the new measures being introduced have resulted in water meters being redundant and in the fact that conservation is no longer a priority. That is simply not the case. Metered households will have an opportunity to "beat the cap" and receuve bills lower than the capped amounts of €160 and €260. A key objective underpinning the reform of the water services sector is to ensure we manage our precious water resources well. Up to 49% of treated water is leaking into the ground before it reaches people's taps and the only way to identify these leaks is to meter water. There is a stark example of how this can work. At one stage 20 houses were identified in Dublin city alone from which, cumulatively, over 1 million litres of treated water was leaking under driveways every day. This is enough to service the entire town of Gorey, a town of over 9,000 people.

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