Tommy Broughan (Dublin Bay North, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I am glad to have the opportunity to speak briefly on the Water Services Bill 2017. From the outset I was opposed to the Fine Gael Ervia project, including Irish Water, whose aim was always to privatise Ireland's domestic water supply.

I always advocated that all the necessary capital funding for expanding water supplies and the maintenance of water systems around the country should be a core part of the annual and multi-annual capital budgets. For about eight years I was chair of the Dublin City Council general purposes committee, which among many other matters looked after the water supply for much of the Dublin region. I saw at first hand how the city council, which organised and provided this water, was denied resources by successive Governments led by Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael to carry out critical maintenance for new pipework and to expand Dublin water supply resources. When we were trying to get the Leixlip works refurbished and developed, we had a great struggle to get funding from the Fianna Fáil-led Government.

The supplies for our capital city and the mid-Leinster region were always on a knife edge while Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael gave huge tax concessions to their big businesses and big farming backers to the tune of €5.5 billion in 2014. At yesterday's meeting of the Committee on Budgetary Oversight, we heard how this tax expenditure could be underestimated by up to €15 billion. When Dublin city is compared with other European capitals we find that Paris, for example, has a 10% reserve of water for emergencies and any kind of natural disasters. We never had that luxury. I place responsibility directly with Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael, which always discriminated against urban areas and particularly against Dublin.

I always promoted publicly owned regional water structures, as led in our case by Dublin City Council. The huge waste of tens of millions of euro on the failed Irish Water project is a stark indictment of this Government and the previous Administration. Last night Deputy Boyd Barrett recalled the huge marches through our city and the other marches throughout the country in the massive Right2Water campaign over recent years and down to the general election in 2016. I pay tribute to the valiant men and women in my constituency who went out quietly and peacefully and stood there in silent opposition to the installation of meters. Their courage and bravery enabled us to ensure that hopefully, water will continue to remain as a public good.

It is very striking that the British Labour Party is determined to renationalise Britain's water supplies. This is based on the outrageous profits taken by private water companies. They have taken billions of pounds out of the system while at the same time they have failed to maintain the network or deliver the expansion and renewal of the massive UK water networks. Of course, Irish Water posted net profit of €54 million in 2016.

The Bill provides for the refund of domestic water charges paid during the period from January 2015 and March 2016. Obviously, I welcome those refunds. It also provides the legislative framework for the introduction of the majority of the recommendations of the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Future Funding of Domestic Water Services report, which was published on 12 April. While the report contained some welcome recommendations, it continued to make reference to excessive use and sanctions for that excessive use.

As a result of that and for other reasons, I and 47 other Deputies voted against the report, yet the cosy coalition we have at present between Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael ensured the approval of the report in the House.

I welcome that citizens who paid their domestic water charges are to receive refunds before the end of the year, which will cost the Exchequer €179 million. Yesterday, we heard in the Committee on Budgetary Oversight that this vast amount of money, which never should have been charged in the first place, has diminished the amount of fiscal space the Minister for Finance, Deputy Donohoe, will have in a couple of weeks' time when he announces the budget.

I have always had concerns about the efficacy of the Commission for Energy Regulation, CER, because I did not feel it ever regulated the energy sector that well. Part 2, section 6, amends section 6 of the Water Services Act 2007. Section 53A of the Bill allows for the Commission for Energy Regulation to be renamed the Commission for Regulation of Utilities, CRU, and from next week, 2 October, it will also carry out reviews on the demand for water services over a 12 month period.

Section 53A(5) and (6) cause me great concern. Subsection (6) states: "Where the Minister after consideration of a subsequent report furnished to him or her under section 53A amends, at any time after the expiration of the period of 5 years commencing on the coming into operation of this section, an order made under subsection 1(a) or 4(a), he or she shall calculate the threshold amount by multiplying the average rate specified in the subsequent report concerned by a multiplier not exceeding 1.7." That means the Minister of the day could say the multiplier must be reduced at any stage as a water conservation measure. It is a clear attempt to bring back domestic water charges through the back door.

The Right2Water and anti-water charge campaigners always supported improved infrastructure or water conservation and their campaign was built on opposition to the establishment of a massive new quango, Irish Water, and the unnecessary metering projects which benefited Mr. Denis O'Brien and his company, and the fact that general taxation measures including income tax, motor tax and high excise were already supposed to be funding water provision around the country. The campaign fought for the fundamental principle that as perhaps the most important public good the water network would be funded from general taxation.

The experience in the constituency of Dublin Bay North with Irish Water is not promising. We have a bureaucratic rigmarole of contacting two councils, Dublin City Council and Fingal County Council, plus contacting Irish Water in relation to every water leak or other water problem. Council staff seem to be carrying out most of the maintenance work, as they always did. As my colleague said, they know the system and the network and their obvious expertise for developing and planning the Dublin and Fingal water networks seems to be wasted. Is it the case that Irish Water has developed into a sort of ESB or Gas Networks Ireland company and is just in charge of capital development while in the case of my area the two local authorities carry out the essential maintenance and renewal of the water system? If that is Irish Water's role, surely that could be better carried out on a regional basis under the direction of those two and perhaps the other two Dublin councils? Why is a costly and totally unnecessary quango being inserted into the water supply system, given that the parties which proposed that were devastated in the 2016 election?

I am also concerned about sections 12 and 13, which provide for allowances for household size and medical need, respectively. Section 12 inserts a new section 53E into the 2007 Act setting the household number that is eligible for an allowance as more than four individuals. The household will then have a new threshold amount and it is stated that it will only be charged if the amount is exceeded. That will be a significant issue because of the current housing, homelessness and rental crisis around the country. We have generations of families often living in the same household because they either cannot afford to rent somewhere, cannot find somewhere to rent, have lost their home, or are unable to buy their own home.

In my constituency of Dublin Bay North, I have met constituents who are in situations where more than ten people are living in one house. Therefore, the provisions are of concern. On this side of the House, we fear the provisions could be used as a Trojan Horse to maintain, and in the future reintroduce, water charges.

It was a recommendation from the joint committee that the remit of the public water forum would be extended to include engagement with Irish Water. We have a number of bodies now in addition to that such as the water policy advisory committee and Irish Water itself. Again, it seems we have set up a bureaucratic quagmire instead of what should be a relatively simple delivery system.

It was deplorable that the Taoiseach, Deputy Leo Varadkar, listed up to eight matters for decision by the people in a referendum in 2018 and 2019 but the promised referendum on retaining Irish Water and the water supply in public ownership was not included. The failure of the privatisation of the water supply in the UK and many other jurisdictions should make this referendum a priority.

I stood in the general election as a Right2Change Independent candidate and I have been opposed to domestic water charges from the outset. I believe the very high level of property tax levied across Dublin Bay North and then transmitted by Revenue to Dublin City Council and Fingal County Council should fund household water, drainage, public lighting and all other local services. I will conclude by again calling for the abolition of Irish Water and for dedicated resources in our capital budget programme to improve water infrastructure around the country. The ten-year capital investment plan from 2020 should prioritise public water and public transport services.

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