Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I did not hear it too much at the end.

The Deputy spoke about meters being in the ground and having a use. However, he refused to acknowledge that they were only there for decoration under an arrangement introduced by his Government. They do not contribute in any way. That was done by the previous Government and in particular the former Minister, Deputy Alan Kelly.

The Deputy spoke of political expediency in introducing the Bill, but he did not acknowledge the lack of accountability. He did not acknowledge that people would accept that the construction the previous Government presented to people to deliver water did not have democratic legitimacy. As a result, the majority of this House as it is currently constituted has a mandate to change and get rid of water fees because of the mistakes and the manner in which the ball was dropped by the previous Government.

A little humility in terms of the implementation would go a long way. We all want that respectful debate and the Bill allows for that to be done with a commission involving experts who know the story internationally. Had that been done at the beginning of the Irish Water charade rather than being rammed down the throat of the people and being set up in a gold-plated way without having any kind of sense of the delivery of the service, the story and this debate might be very different. However, we are here.

Our legal advice is different from that contained in the latest European Commission contribution. The former Deputy, Marian Harkin, MEP, is quoting different legal advice in terms of what derogation means and what water services directive it is using.

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