Damien English (Meath West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

To be clear, the Bill before the House relates to water, not to the Irish Water utility. The single water utility remains, and the Government has no intention of changing that. We strongly believe in the concept of a single water utility delivering the service and infrastructure requirements throughout the country, for both the domestic and non-domestic sectors. I have no doubt that in time, when people review this, they will see it was the right decision to establish a single water utility such as Irish Water to deliver best practice, efficiencies and effectiveness in this area and to bring the infrastructure in the country for water and wastewater up to the high standard required to facilitate growth in business, jobs and housing supply. I wish the Deputy would not try to confuse the matter because there is no doubt. The Bill before the Oireachtas does not relate to the future of Irish Water, the single water utility.

It is quite correct to continue the process of collecting the non-domestic charges. The Deputy is trying to suggest that this is being done to improve its funds. The non-domestic water charges were being collected on behalf of Irish Water under a service level agreement with local authorities. The money was still coming in but now Irish Water will be billing directly for that service. That transfer begins with Meath and Monaghan.

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