Barry Cowen (Offaly, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the opportunity to speak on the work of the special Oireachtas committee on water. This has been a deeply contentious and politically divisive issue for the past few years. I understand the deep frustration of the public around a debate that never quite seems to end. When so many other pressing concerns such as the escalating housing crisis or the threat of Brexit are knocking on the door, water charges continue to suck up an inordinate amount of time and energy.

Now is the time to settle this issue once and for all. It is time to get to grips with the other challenges that face us all. I believe the report of the committee forms a basis for us to do that.

It is important to give this discussion its proper context, which has often been neglected in coverage and discussion in the past few weeks. The water charges regime introduced by Fine Gael and the Labour Party was a complete and utter failure. By any metric, it had failed to achieve its objectives. After a dizzying series of over 12 U-turns, the Government actually lost money on domestic water tariffs. In 2015, only 53% of bills due were paid while €100 million was spent on the water grant, €41 million is due in interest repayments over the year and another €25 million was spent on administration costs. On this basis, the State actually lost €22 million in total on its water charges regime in 2015 so water charges have actually cost the State money. This policy debacle combined with the failure to pass the EUROSTAT test meant that the very reason Irish Water and water charges were introduced was completely lost. No additional revenue was available for investment in the water infrastructure due to domestic water charges. No wonder the Government Chief Whip, Deputy Regina Doherty, admitted last Saturday that the water charges regime introduced by the last Government were a "catastrophe [...] a cock up". Their impact on struggling households and communities across the country was very real.

It is incumbent on all Deputies to address those very real concerns and confront the scale of the failure of the previous Government's water charges system. However, some are shirking that responsibility. Deputy Alan Kelly who is still spinning from the number of U-turns he introduced as Minister continues to suffer from an angry form of Stockholm syndrome - a political Patty Hearst if you will. However, he has failed to admit that it was his own Government that ended the EU derogation in 2013, that being the established practice model, and not as he has previously stated and continues to state, the 2010 river basin management plan in 2010. That was confirmed in the independent legal advice given to the committee and it was worth noting and was noted by me and others. Neither has he admitted that the water meters the previous Government spent an enormous €500 million on installing were rendered redundant by the flat rate he himself introduced, nor has he taken responsibility for the €110 million water conservation grant bribe, which was to sweeten a rotten deal. Where is the honesty he speaks about in sticking with a regime that was turned inside out by U-turns and has failed abysmally?

It is against that backdrop that Fianna Fáil entered into a confidence and supply arrangement with Fine Gael. While other parties were content to take a ten-week holiday, we sought to lead and then help facilitate a Government. The country did not want another election that would resolve nothing. We stood up to the mark and in a spirit of compromise, set out a path to achieve our core policy aims. Ending the failed water charges regime was foremost among those objectives.

This brings us to the report of the Oireachtas Committee on the Future Funding of Domestic Water Services. The committee has met 22 times since December 2016 and drawn from a wide range of experts. There has been give and take on all sides to reach a viable and legally sound outcome. The central outcome for Fianna Fáil is that the water charges regime is abolished and over 92% of households will not pay for water. The remaining 8%, or 70,000 households, will be given an opportunity to apply for extraordinary circumstances exemption such as a large family or medical conditions. People who waste water will be penalised under the Water Services Act 2007.

It is important to highlight the summary of what is contained in the report. The existing water charges regime will be abolished. The Labour Party, Sinn Féin, People Before Profit or anybody else who wishes to do so, will be rejecting the report by voting against it. The definition of excessive use will be set at 70% above average usage, which is 133 litres per day per person. That is 1.7 times that rate. Those rejecting this report will be rejecting that threshold. Any remaining households above this will be given an opportunity to fix leaks and reduce usage before being subject to fines. If they waste water, they will be penalised.

In rejecting the report the Labour Party, Sinn Féin and anybody else who wants to vote against it are rejecting that process. Water services will be funded through Exchequer funding. In rejecting the report the Labour Party, Sinn Féin, People Before Profit and anybody else who opposes it are saying it should not be paid for out of general taxation. Households that have paid their bills will be refunded. Those rejecting this report are rejecting that fact. A detailed report on ensuring equal funding for rural and urban dwellers will be published and used for future budgeting. In rejecting the report the Labour Party, Sinn Féin, People Before Profit and anybody else who votes against it do not think this is the right thing to do. A referendum to enshrine Irish Water in public ownership will be held. In rejecting the report the Labour Party, Sinn Féin, People Before Profit and anybody else who rejects it are saying they do not want a referendum on ownership of public water to be held. Independent advice indicates this and all the recommendations contained with it will satisfy EU legal requirements.

Much attention focused on the argument over the report between Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael in the past fortnight. I am confident that what we have now agreed is essentially the same deal that was settled two weeks ago. The agreement saw Deputy Eoin Ó Broin of Sinn Féin and the Minister clamouring over each other to claim victory on the airwaves and social media. That should hold true today but, of course, it will not. Our fear in the past two weeks was that Fine Gael was shifting the goalposts around the threshold level and creating a gap to allow water charges through the back door to the amount of 20% to 25%. That was the fundamental basis for the dispute. The agreed report closes off such a back channel for water charges by specifying the threshold levels and clarifies the average use per person. Despite the spin that has been prevalent today, it will ensure all household types are fairly accommodated in the amendment put forward by Deputy Noel Grealish and agreed by other parties.

We have showed a willingness to compromise on such areas as water meters on new builds based on the 2008 building regulations and the best practice initiatives that are contained within them that allow water meters to be inserted across the country in many local authorities, including my own, for the past seven years, which nobody will admit has been happening. In the future, water meters will be based on conservation, not on a charging regime. I am now satisfied that the Water Services Act 2007 put forward by Fianna Fáil will be used as the basis for legislation. Fianna Fáil has continually advocated this as the best way to abolish charges, satisfy our EU obligations and tackle wastage. Now we need to turn the report into actual legislation and we will fully engage in the legislative process as it progresses.

Regardless of whether one likes it or will admit it, ending water charges is an achievement of constructive politics. The confidence and supply arrangement, the expert commission, the special Oireachtas committee and forthcoming legislation are the product of hard work. They are not the product of shouting from the sidelines. Fianna Fáil has always been the party of the centre ground. We have taken a practical approach to address this serious problem and come forward with a viable solution that will end charges and secure future investment in the water network. Others have promised or continue to promise, we have delivered.

Many people from all perspectives on water charges, be they urban dwellers or people on group water schemes, are no doubt deeply frustrated by the time it has taken to reach this point. I understand their annoyance. I assure them that Fianna Fáil is committed to settling this issue and moving on to address the mounting risks we face as a country. Now is the time to settle this issue and heal the divisive wounds that opened up. The country faces uncertain times. Choppy seas await us in respect of Brexit. The housing crisis demands real leadership. We need to show that the political maturity and sense that has prevailed on this issue can agree a new framework for water, for example.

We will face greater challenges in the months and years ahead but the House must rise to that task and I have no doubt that a constructive House that recognises the opportunities contained within it can play a part in effecting change and real policy initiatives that can determine positive outcomes.

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