Thomas Pringle (Donegal South West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

The line is nonsensical and should be deleted from the Bill as the amendment is very reasonable. I can envisage many circumstances in which a person who is not a registered customer of Irish Water might wish to make a complaint about the company. Why should only Irish Water customers have the right to call on the Commission for Energy Regulation to engage in dispute resolution? Irish Water's code of practice for handling complaints does not set out that only customers of the company can make complaints; why, therefore, does th legislation bar non-customers from taking complaints further?

There are many circumstances in which this could be an issue. A non-customer of Irish Water could be affected by the company's shoddy workmanship in meter installation or leak repair and might, ultimately, need to elevate a complaint to the Commission for Energy Regulation. The Minister says a person with a complaint will first have to register with Irish Water and make a complaint to the company and only then, if the internal resolution process fails, will that person have the right to elevate the matter to the Commission for Energy Regulation. This is a nonsensical approach that will affect many people as an adult may live in a house without being the registered owner and still have a valid complaint to make to Irish Water. Such a person will have to register with it to progress a complaint. This makes no sense.

The sensible approach for the Minister to take is to agree to the amendment and delete line 35 from the Bill, as this would make no difference to the functioning of the Commission for Energy Regulation and would give citizens a right of recourse when a complaint to Irish Water fails. The amendment would allow for a simple, cost-effective process that would make sense, while the Bill, as it stands, will force people to go to the courts as a last resort to seek dispute resolution. I urge the Minister to consider the amendment.

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