John McGuinness (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I extend my congratulations to the Minister of State, Deputy John Paul Phelan, on his appointment. I wish him well in office and I have no doubt that he will bring his wisdom and experience of local government to the task before him. Undoubtedly while he does his national work, Carlow-Kilkenny will benefit immensely.

I am also delighted that the committee has concluded its work on this needlessly long drawn out issue. It shows a complete failure in politics that for so long we had to endure the debacle of Irish Water in its infancy, and the various scandals that tumbled out about consultancy fees and so on. That €0.5 billion spent on meters that are no longer required is something the political system should reflect on because another situation like this should be avoided at all costs and we should learn from our mistakes. There is a reference in the Bill to measuring the consumption of water and to penalties for those who abuse the system or waste water. It will be interesting to see how that works for the many households that do not have a meter. Whether it is a guesstimate or someone who sits in a house to watch what people do with the water, I do not know. It shows a continuation of the poor management of the introduction of a system to manage the water services.

I am concerned for the many employees of local government who are now used by Irish Water. It seems a circuitous route for complaints to have to make them to Irish Water which sends a former employee of the local council out to fix it. I acknowledge, however, the efficiency of the email system operated by Irish Water for responding to such complaints. That goes to show that this is an overlaying of a bureaucratic structure on a system that was working reasonably well but that was starved of funding by successive governments. That is all that was wrong. What will county managers around the country do now? They do not collect waste, housing has been outsourced, and they will not have to worry about water or commercial charges. They have more time on their hands to produce reports and to manipulate councillors into positions of accepting the various rates and so on that are put before them. I am anxious that this legislation makes clear that the Comptroller and Auditor General will be in a position to audit the spending of taxpayers' money by Irish Water. I think €2.6 billion went into Irish Water up to the end of 2017. It will require €1 billion a year. It will collect, and is already collecting, commercial water charges. A significant amount of money is going into Irish Water and that explains why it should be held accountable by the Committee of Public Accounts and the Comptroller and Auditor General. While I understand that part of that fund may be subject to an audit by the Comptroller and Auditor General, I would like it to be more specific in the legislation so that there is no ambiguity about it and there is a clear message that we are now counting what is spent and we want to see value for taxpayers' money.

The local property tax will go directly to the local government fund. I am concerned that we would say in this House that road tax, while going to the Central Fund, will inevitably contribute in some way to the funding of Irish Water. It would be far better to say the local property tax and road tax will go to local councils to fund the much needed services that they are now finding it hard to deliver because the funding in various areas has been cut. It would send out the right message that road tax is for roads, local property tax is managed through the local government fund for something else and that the taxes to run Irish Water come from the Central Fund. That is a very important message to clarify in the context of this Bill. The Bill does not necessarily make that statement. In fact it makes quite a different statement.

It is now left to the Minister to introduce some guidelines on the reductions for medical use.

Whatever those guidelines, I would not like to see the bar set so high that it would inflict further difficulty on families who are dealing with medical issues and require more water than the norm. When one gets down to dealing with that, the Minister of State will see it is a complex question that requires an answer. I hope that the Minister of State or the Minister will fall in favour of the citizen and not put a further obstacle in that person's way.

I also want to draw attention to the absence of any criteria for the connection fees that are now being imposed by Irish Water and that will be imposed in the future. Under the councils, the cost was different and cheaper. The cost under Irish Water is significantly higher. In my constituency office, I have seen complaints registered about single household connections for water running at a rate of €10,000 to €12,000. It may be a once off, although I do not think it is, but I believe it is another way of raising money from people who are hard pressed. It is not right for people setting out to build their homes, receiving little or no support from the banks or anyone else, to be faced with an enormous charge. The Government must set down some form of guidelines and limits in order that Irish Water does not run away with itself and see this as another soft touch way to raise funds.

On rural schemes, whether it is water or sewerage, there is a need for a clear message, one that insists that Irish Water co-operates with the many volunteers throughout the country who run these schemes and work with them in a positive and proactive way to bring the schemes under their care for the purposes of repair and funding. In so doing, we would acknowledge the current volunteers and enhance the scheme itself, whether it is water or sewerage. It is crucial that the Government do this.

There is a great deal of suspicion of this Bill. The multiplier of 1.7 in terms of the usage could be changed by a majority in this House if Deputies so wished and it was recommended to them. We are in a strange kind of politics now, but that could also change. It could be that the majority on the other side of the House might decide to introduce or reduce the amount of water limited to a household which would lead to substantially more households paying for water. The whole debate around the 2016 election, and in the period before it, was about eliminating water charges. Had a vote been taken on the matter, a majority in this House would have been against water charges and Irish Water. What I see missing from this Bill is that Irish Water, which we on this side of the House described as a gold-plated quango, has survived, although it now has a five-man posse looking over its shoulder. This legislation is the best and most tangible way to explain the farce of what we call "new politics". It is neither here nor there. It has taken up a lot of time at committee and in debate in parliamentary party meetings and so on, but the sooner we get real with the electorate and tell it exactly what is in the legislation and how it will work, and remove any ambiguity around many of the issues, the better. Our actions must reflect the desire outside the House in terms of managing our affairs. I do not mean that merely in terms of opposition to water charges but more generally. I wish our Minister, Deputy Eoghan Murphy, well. When he introduced this Bill, I think he said that he was not particularly proud of it, or words to that effect. That also explains how uncomfortable some Members are with this legislation, and other legislation too. The information that one can get directly from officials is much more clear than some of the information which comes through the political parties, for one reason or another.

I ask the Minister of State to note some of the issues I have raised as I believe they are of concern to the public. I encourage greater clarity in some aspects of the legislation because it is not clear. It is wrong to put local government taxes, such as road tax particularly here but also the local property tax, LPT, into a fund where people can see it being diverted into Irish Water. I am sceptical about the arrangement with Fine Gael. This legislation is a piece of fudge and I hope that in the future we will put the country and the affairs of the State first before we tinker around politically with issues that must be addressed.

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