Danny Healy-Rae (Kerry, Independent) | Oireachtas source

This is a very contentious issue. Like everybody else, I would love to have free water and for everyone to have free water. However, it appears that this motion is designed to give one section of the people free water. What concessions will be given to people in rural Ireland who have their own water pumps and septic tanks and to farmers and business people who have been paying for water for years? They have been paying to get public water. What will happen to them? Will they get free water?

There is a cost to providing water. I should have said at the outset that people could construe that I have a conflict interest on this matter because my father, uncle, myself and my son have been repairing water pipes at different times for the last 60 years or so. If everybody is going to receive free water, that is fine. The question is how it will be paid for. People in rural Ireland who have septic tanks had to jump a high bar to be allowed to install the septic tank and then they had to pay up to €14,000 or €15,000 to install it. They must also keep it maintained. It is fine to say that we must clear up the sewage on Dalkey strand when somebody is not paying for it. As I speak, there are inspectors from Kerry County Council inspecting septic tanks to ensure they are in order. That happens in every county. The people who own the tanks will have to repair them if they are not in order. Will those people get assistance to maintain their septic tanks? Will people whose home will not be attached to a public sewerage scheme get money to install a free septic tank?

We must be fair about it. People in rural Ireland will have to be looked after as well. These are people who have paid to install water pumps. They must keep them going even though they give a lot of trouble. Perhaps they can avail of gravity flow but that costs money as well. These people provide water for themselves but they must pay for it. It is galling to think that those people, in some way under the name of taxation, will have to pay for another section of the community to have free water and free sewerage. I cannot see that as fair. Furthermore, what about all the young fellows who are working and have no house, water or septic tank? They are paying rent and paying for other things but they do not have a house or property of their own. These are hard working people. Are they going to be taxed more to fund free water? That question must be answered.

Regardless of the party involved, and the parties are fighting among themselves about words, the fact is that it costs money to provide water. If it is not going to be paid by some people who are using it, who will pay for it and how much extra will they have to pay to ensure that other people will have free water? I want free water as much as anybody else. I would take it as well. I use a great deal of water. In fact, I am robbed by water. Any Members who are farmers will know what happens with water troughs. They leak and one might not see it because one was not down in that field. In the meantime, a fortune in water has gone down the drain unused and we still must pay for it.

There is much talk about abolishing water charges. What should and must be done is to provide a waiver system for people who just cannot pay. There should be a system in place for those people to ensure they are not put under duress and tormented by bills if they cannot pay. They might be disabled people or people who do not have the wherewithal, even if they are not getting social welfare. I urge Members to consider what I have said because it is a very serious matter. The water does not come from the sky into the pipes. It costs money to replace and extend pipes and to treat the water. Where will the money come from? Members talk about general taxation and progressive taxation. That is money out of the pocket of some fellow who is working. The working people will take no more. The working man is paying enough and if Members try to shove it on him, he will have parties here in Dublin that they will not forget.

See this speech in context