Michael Collins (Cork South-West, Independent Ireland Party) | Oireachtas source

I am totally opposed to water charges. I was one of the people who protested very strongly against water charges at the time. The problem we have is that very little is recognised in this House regarding people who do pay for water. In agriculture, the farmers pay for water. I paid for three connections. My son is paying for it now because he is running the farm. It is a huge burden to farmers and they have to show responsibility. If there are leaks, they have to deal with the issue immediately. Where there could be a problem and where I could at least listen to the argument as to how we will stop it is that somebody in a housing estate, and no disrespect to people there, could turn on a tap and walk away because there is no responsibility as such. There has to be some bit of responsibility. There could be a leak and they might not bother or want to fix that leak.

We also have to look at businesses out there. How many businesses out there are paying water charges? They are paying rates, they are paying every such thing. I think a new charge was introduced recently if they have stools or chairs and tables outside their doors. As if to God they were not beaten down enough, that is another rate that these business people in the Cork County Council area are being hit with, on top of VAT and everything else. Some people out there are paying exorbitant amounts of money for water, but more are not. In a situation where people are paying huge money in property tax, carbon tax and every kind of tax going, the very least we can get in this country is free water. The Government is wrong here to oppose this Bill. It needs to take a long look back at the history of where the water charges went the previous time and the huge disquiet among the ordinary citizens of this country.

The quality of the water has to come into play too. Uisce Éireann is really quite questionable. We will be talking about wastewater treatment plants later this week but for now we are dealing with water. Deputy Ken O'Flynn was in this House only two weeks ago and he held up a glass of water from his constituency. You would not know was it a glass of Coke or what. It was certainly not a glass of clear water. It was scandalous to see the condition of the water there. There are an awful lot of issues and the public has no confidence in Uisce Éireann delivering. If the Minister expects the public will still pay for water while the service is not at its best by any manner or means, it has another thing coming. I would appreciate it if the Minister were to look at that. Basically, we need to look at repairing leaks. In Bantry there are continuous leaks. As soon as one pops, it pops all over the town and it leaves people in a very bad situation.

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