Joe Costello (Dublin Central, Labour) | Oireachtas source

If it is an unparliamentary term, I am more than willing to withdraw it. Imprisoning a Member and Minister of this Parliament is undemocratic and deserves an apology in the House, which we have not yet seen.

The Government has sought to produce new measures and make them as fair and certain as possible. The capping of the payment for a single adult household at €60 per year, or €1.15 per week, while multi-adult households will pay €3 per week, is straightforward and fair and represents a reasonable amount of money. A free allowance of 21,000 litres per child will also be in place. The capped charges will remain in place until 2019. Once the water meters are fully introduced, anyone achieving reductions in water usage will be entitled to a further reduction in their charges.

The infrastructure and services of Irish Water are a natural monopoly. This Bill shows that the Minister has listened to the people's concerns that water services and the water infrastructure should not be privatised. Members on all sides of the House have indicated that they are in favour of retaining Irish Water, and the service it provides, in public ownership.

It is, however, now cast-iron in this legislation that a plebiscite will be necessary and the people will decide if Irish Water is to move from public ownership. This is a welcome measure, as is the removal of the obligation to provide PPS numbers, which was a source of concern for people. People were concerned as to how these numbers might be used but it is now clear that any numbers already obtained by Irish Water will be destroyed.

The new Irish Water service is a necessary consolidation of what went before. Many Members of this House have been members of local authorities and will know that the provision of water services by 34 local authorities was patchy and sometimes the quality left much to be desired. It remains the case that many services are not up to standards and levels of lead poisoning from water are high. In some areas water is undrinkable and the situation in Roscommon has persisted for four or five years but, thanks to Irish Water, this will be largely dealt with by Christmas. Many people will be able to drink tap water without first boiling it and the problem will be entirely resolved early in the new year.

There are more than 1,000 drinking water supplies in the country and this scale is too small to allow for economies. Some 126 drinking water plants need to be upgraded and 58,000 km of drinking water pipelines need urgent repair. The numbers are huge and we are still using Victorian-age pipelines as they have not been repaired in many local authority areas. It will take a huge investment to repair the network so it is important that we have a centralised, consolidated mechanism like Irish Water.

My own city of Dublin faces a difficult situation as restrictions were last year placed on the city's water supply from the Ballymore Eustace treatment plant. There are constant concerns about Dublin's water supply as the surplus now stands at only around 2% - we are consuming 98% of available water and this cannot continue. There may be severe rationing and there could be a colossal breakdown in the system at any time. Irish Water is required to deal with this and it is also needed for industrial reasons due to the consumption of water by that sector. As the recovery continues there will, no doubt, be greater use of water.

I am very interested in the area of conservation but this idea necessitates a metering system. Only through metering can we examine and survey the level of water consumed and deal with the issue in an adequate fashion. The capping system is a short-term solution and in the long term a strong conservation mechanism, based on water consumption, is required. The Government should consider grant-aided supports for rain harvesting to ensure a water supply can be provided to homes throughout the country. This area is not covered in the legislation but it could address many household needs that do not require treated water. There should be grant support to cover rainwater barrels, piping and pumping water through a house for non-drinking purposes. As the next step forward, I ask the Minister to consider the provision of grant aid for households to enable them to construct systems for retaining rainwater for non-drinking purposes.

This legislation reflects the fact that this Government has listened to the people and taken on board their concerns. The Government has attempted to be fair in the manner in which it has addressed the need for water services. At the same time, it is recognised that the introduction of a body like Irish Water was essential - such bodies operate throughout the developed world. Without taking the actions it has to provide adequate water services, the Government could not deal with the many water-related problems the country has faced for a very long time. I commend this Bill to the House.

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