Kate O'Connell (Dublin Bay South, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

First, I pay tribute to my colleagues on the water committee. It was a tough task and we all embraced it. I believe we have reached a solution of sorts. Initially, I wish to correct the statement made by Deputy Richard Boyd Barrett, who insists on making the false assertion that there are no water charges in Scotland. Scottish people pay an average of €400 per year in water charges. They have an opt-in system for metering, which usually reduces their bills. It is important to make that point.

Some Members in this Chamber do not appear to deal in facts and disregard experts - experts who have no vested interest but who work in their fields and on behalf of this country. I genuinely hope the people who disregard the experts never need an expert. There are times in one's life when one wants the lad who has done the heart operation previously, not the lad who googled it.

My party and I do not live by the philosophy of take what one can and give nothing back. It is one of our core principles. I also pay tribute to Irish Water as a utility. It is worth noting that it has fixed 28,000 leaks and that 70 million litres of water a day are supplied to 200,000 homes. That is a good thing. It is probably unusual for a Deputy from Dublin Bay South to talk about cutting roads illegally in the middle of the night. My father is almost 80 years old so he will hardly be arrested for it now. I spent many years doing things like that, drawing water from wells to feed cattle and breaking ice on water barrels to feed animals on farms. As a major part of me is rooted in rural Ireland, it is important to put my view on the record tonight, and I assume it is the view of Fine Gael, that people in rural Ireland, whether they are on group water schemes or have their own wells, will be treated no less favourably than people in urban centres.

I could give a history lesson, as some Members have tonight, but I see this as a forward measure. Deputy Eamon Ryan has left the Chamber, but he made an important point. This is about doing the right thing, and not because Europe made us do it. It is about aspiring to have state-of-the-art infrastructure for water and to put under the ground the foundations that will support what this Minister is doing and what he plans to put above the ground, which will complement Fine Gael's vision for the future of our great country. I will work with the Fine Gael Party to get this legislation through and to make it fit for purpose to secure the future funding of domestic water services for this country, something that has been neglected in the past.

Inné, rinneamar an rud ceart. Tá béim ar uisce mhuintir na hÉireann agus infreastruchtúr uisce mhuintir na hÉireann a chosaint ar son gach duine sa tír seo. Rinneamar an rud ceart inné agus déanfaimid an rud ceart amárach.

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