Results 2,021-2,040 of 15,491 for speaker:Eamon Gilmore

Water Services Bill 2003 [Seanad]: Report Stage (25 Apr 2007)

Eamon Gilmore: We were talking about genuine concerns and he undertook to consider this before Report Stage. He has now had five months to reflect on this and I am disappointed there is no Government amendment on the list that would acknowledge the right of the public to a safe and reliable water supply. This is a fundamental issue and it is not new. The Labour Party proposed it on Committee Stage, as I...

Water Services Bill 2003 [Seanad]: Report Stage (25 Apr 2007)

Eamon Gilmore: I wish to respond to the debate we had on this. The Minister mentioned practical difficulties prevent him from accepting three amendments which would give Irish people a legal right to water. Such a legal right is hardly an unreasonable request to make in the first decade of the 21st century. Water is essential for life. The practical difficulties referred to by the Minister relating to...

Water Services Bill 2003 [Seanad]: Report Stage (25 Apr 2007)

Eamon Gilmore: How many houses in the country do not have a supply of running water either from the public supply or a group water scheme?

Water Services Bill 2003 [Seanad]: Report Stage (25 Apr 2007)

Eamon Gilmore: No.

Water Services Bill 2003 [Seanad]: Report Stage (25 Apr 2007)

Eamon Gilmore: This is at the root of what we are discussing. This is not about the supply of a luxury. It is about the supply of something which is essential for life. The Minister spoke about the practical difficulty that this would somehow impose an enormous burden on the State. We know one third of the country's entire housing stock was built during the past ten years, presumably connected either to...

Water Services Bill 2003 [Seanad]: Report Stage (25 Apr 2007)

Eamon Gilmore: ——the State has a responsibility and obligation. If somebody living in a rural area draws his or her water from a well or other private supply and it is polluted by the activity of someone else the State has a duty of care to protect the right to water of that person. It is up to the State, through water pollution laws, etc, to ensure those people are protected. The reality is that in...

Water Services Bill 2003 [Seanad]: Report Stage (25 Apr 2007)

Eamon Gilmore: I am replying to the debate. If the Victorians could deliver clean water to towns and cities when this country was under British rule in the 19th century, it is not unreasonable to ask that, in the 21st century, the Government of this independent State should be able to deliver and guarantee to people that they will have a good quality water supply. The Minister is standing back from the...

Water Services Bill 2003 [Seanad]: Report Stage (25 Apr 2007)

Eamon Gilmore: That is not what I am getting at.

Water Services Bill 2003 [Seanad]: Report Stage (25 Apr 2007)

Eamon Gilmore: I move amendment No. 4: In page 15, line 4, after "accordingly" to insert the following: ", but references to prescribed persons and cognate expressions shall refer only to householders involved in group water schemes and similar arrangements, and shall not refer to those engaged in commercial activity". During all the debates on this Bill, I have expressed concern on behalf of the Labour...

Water Services Bill 2003 [Seanad]: Report Stage (25 Apr 2007)

Eamon Gilmore: I acknowledge that, since the Bill was published, we have made considerable progress in limiting the potential for the privatisation of water services. It is certainly the case that, when the Bill was originally published, provisions in it expressly allowed for the privatisation of water. The original section 27, which I believe has now gone, referred to that. The same is to some extent...

Water Services Bill 2003 [Seanad]: Report Stage (25 Apr 2007)

Eamon Gilmore: I have asked the question and I await the Minister's response.

Water Services Bill 2003 [Seanad]: Report Stage (25 Apr 2007)

Eamon Gilmore: Who owns the water in each case? We must test this.

Water Services Bill 2003 [Seanad]: Report Stage (25 Apr 2007)

Eamon Gilmore: In no circumstances will the water be owned by the private company.

Water Services Bill 2003 [Seanad]: Report Stage (25 Apr 2007)

Eamon Gilmore: I am happy to accept amendment No. 17, which improves the situation. I have been comforted to hear the Minister state that in no circumstances will the assets or infrastructure of our water services be transferred to private ownership. I am also satisfied to have heard that the water itself will not in any circumstances be owned by anyone but the public authority. I hope that I am right in...

Water Services Bill 2003 [Seanad]: Report Stage (25 Apr 2007)

Eamon Gilmore: We have come a long way on this since the Bill was published and, to be fair, the Minister has responded to the issues raised on this side of the House. Having come this far, I do not see how he cannot accept the amendment in my name, which would put the matter completely beyond doubt.

Water Services Bill 2003 [Seanad]: Report Stage (25 Apr 2007)

Eamon Gilmore: I move amendment No. 6: In page 18, between lines 22 and 23, to insert the following: "6.—In addition to the matters specified in section 5, the purpose for which this Act is enacted includes giving effect to the fundamental right of the individual to access to sufficient, safe, acceptable and accessible water for personal and domestic use, having due regard to international legal...

Water Services Bill 2003 [Seanad]: Report Stage (25 Apr 2007)

Eamon Gilmore: In view of the decision made on the connected amendment No. 2, this amendment is dead.

Water Services Bill 2003 [Seanad]: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage (25 Apr 2007)

Eamon Gilmore: I move amendment No. 11: In page 25, line 21, after "paragraph" to insert the following: "and, in the case of electronic mail, provided also that the individual has consented to receive legal notices by email, that the matter is one of urgency, and that there is a facility to confirm that the recipient has received and read the mail and that this facility has been operated". This amendment...

Water Services Bill 2003 [Seanad]: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage (25 Apr 2007)

Eamon Gilmore: I move amendment No. 15: In page 37, between lines 10 and 11, to insert the following: "(a) the right of each person within the functional area of the authority to have access to water services;".

Water Services Bill 2003 [Seanad]: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage (25 Apr 2007)

Eamon Gilmore: I move amendment No. 20: In page 57, line 51, after "repair" to insert the following: "and may recover a contribution to the cost of meeting his or her obligations under this section from the persons using the connection, in direct proportion to their level of use of the connection". We discussed this at some length on Committee Stage. It addresses problems where there are combined drains or...