Mattie McGrath (Tipperary, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I am happy to speak on this issue. Having watched the debate and the prolonged activity, I was as aghast and bewildered as many of the public were at how long this has gone on. The Minister spoke about the recommendations of the independent commission. It proposed that the funding of water services for normal domestic and personal use should be out of taxation and that excessive or wasteful use of water should be paid for directly by the user at tariffs determined by the CER. The CER has an abysmal record in dealing with gas price hikes, the ESB and everything else. The independent commission recommended that excessive or wasteful use of water should be discouraged by charging for such use and, therefore, be consistent with the polluter pays principle, with which we all agree.

The Minister went on to take account of all he heard from Big Phil, the man who created this monster, and the people in Europe. He referred to maintaining Irish Water as a single utility structure for the delivery of our water services, increased funding certainty for future investment in water infrastructure, a conservation-based approach to using meters, a charging system that is fair for households and that encourages sustainable consumption patterns, and - here is the sting in the tail - equitable treatment for people who currently pay for their domestic water through group water schemes, as well as for those households who have already paid water bills.

Here is the problem. I salute this cohort of people, as I have done before in this House. They were the pioneers who went out and created the group water schemes from the bottom to the top of Ireland. This was when they were drawing water with horses and carts, as I did myself, to feed their families and their animals. These are the people who are bewildered with all this going on and they are not being taken into account at all. What is the Minister doing to them? In the past couple of years he has stripped away the grant aid they could get.

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