Alan Kelly (Tipperary North, Labour) | Oireachtas source

The Deputy will have to take responsibility for the misinformation he is giving out. He will disagree with me on that, of course, but he will be held to account for it when he is asked to pay the bills for the people he is misrepresenting.

I agree with him in regard to deposits. We are agreeing on more than we expected. Deposits are very important. I was in the rental sector for many years. I rented in Dublin and Cork. It is vital that tenants' deposits are protected for the right reasons, although there is a minority of cases in which it is the other way around. This is why I intend to introduce legislation to protect deposits. I have committed to such legislation and I am sure the Deputy will welcome it. However, if a customer of Irish Water is a tenant, Irish Water will have to pursue him or her as such.

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