Results 3,061-3,080 of 5,132 for speaker:Trevor Ó Clochartaigh

Seanad: Water Services (No. 2) Bill 2013: Committee Stage (Resumed) (16 Dec 2013)

Trevor Ó Clochartaigh: I will.

Seanad: Water Services (No. 2) Bill 2013: Committee Stage (Resumed) (16 Dec 2013)

Trevor Ó Clochartaigh: Sinn Féin has very good researchers.

Seanad: Water Services (No. 2) Bill 2013: Committee Stage (Resumed) (16 Dec 2013)

Trevor Ó Clochartaigh: I will go further by stating I was absolutely astounded by the Minister of State's answer.

Seanad: Water Services (No. 2) Bill 2013: Committee Stage (Resumed) (16 Dec 2013)

Trevor Ó Clochartaigh: Perhaps I should not be, in the knowledge the Government is led by Fine Gael.

Seanad: Water Services (No. 2) Bill 2013: Committee Stage (Resumed) (16 Dec 2013)

Trevor Ó Clochartaigh: The Minister has been stating throughout that the issue has been about the conservation of water. However, the Minister of State's comments show this Bill is a complete charade for the purpose of introducing water charges. He is providing a completely economically illogical argument and I would explain what I mean by this. As outlined by Senator Cullinane, the cost of bringing in water...

Seanad: Water Services (No. 2) Bill 2013: Committee Stage (Resumed) (16 Dec 2013)

Trevor Ó Clochartaigh: The amendment that was ruled out of order deals with an area we have touched upon without going into any detail, which relates to the water conservation measures that could be put in place. If certain schemes are to be introduced, such as support for domestic water harvesting or the replacement of old toilet cisterns with dual function ones, who will give the grant aid towards those? The...

Seanad: Water Services (No. 2) Bill 2013: Committee Stage (Resumed) (16 Dec 2013)

Trevor Ó Clochartaigh: I move amendment No. 59: In page 21, lines 33 to 35, to delete all words from and including "Minister," in line 33 down to and including "Reform" in line 35 and substitute "the Houses of the Oireachtas".

Seanad: Water Services (No. 2) Bill 2013: Committee Stage (Resumed) (16 Dec 2013)

Trevor Ó Clochartaigh: This issue has been raised with me by the members of various local authorities. We might clarify the situation, as even at this stage with the hand-over imminent there appears to be significant confusion at that level about capital funding. My understanding is that certain local authorities are charging for commercial water usage through water rates and development levies, whereas their...

Seanad: Water Services (No. 2) Bill 2013: Committee Stage (Resumed) (16 Dec 2013)

Trevor Ó Clochartaigh: I appreciate that. It is very important that we are able to tease these things out. Certainly, Intel is one example but it is probably the biggest company we have so it will get whatever it needs from an infrastructural perspective. I would be more worried about companies under the auspices of Údarás na Gaeltachta which would be based in a Gaeltacht area. It might be a fish...

Seanad: Water Services (No. 2) Bill 2013: Committee Stage (Resumed) (16 Dec 2013)

Trevor Ó Clochartaigh: I appreciate that it is difficult to cover everything when so many points are being raised. I asked about a specific aspect of the public private partnership issue.

Seanad: Water Services (No. 2) Bill 2013: Committee Stage (Resumed) (16 Dec 2013)

Trevor Ó Clochartaigh: The Minister of State has mentioned a figure of €760 million.

Seanad: Water Services (No. 2) Bill 2013: Committee Stage (Resumed) (16 Dec 2013)

Trevor Ó Clochartaigh: It seems from my research that there is an indicative figure of approximately €260 million for investment in capital infrastructure for the coming year. As the Minister of State has said, that falls far short of the €600 million figure that was indicated. That is why I am asking about public private partnerships. The Department must have some idea of how much it wants to...

Seanad: Water Services (No. 2) Bill 2013: Committee Stage (Resumed) (16 Dec 2013)

Trevor Ó Clochartaigh: That raises another issue. If a foreign direct investment company wants to base itself in a town like Castlebar, which has been mentioned to me, the council currently has the power to say this is a very important project and that it wants to ensure the water treatment system and so on is up to scratch. If something like that happens now or if a county council wants to build an estate or...

Seanad: Water Services (No. 2) Bill 2013: Committee Stage (Resumed) (16 Dec 2013)

Trevor Ó Clochartaigh: The water services strategic plan may cover a period of 25 years. The Minister of State spoke of public private partnerships during our previous discussion. Will he elaborate on the Government's thinking on the role of public private partnerships in the water system? Does it envisage investment in the system by private capital investment companies? Is it possible that such private...

Seanad: Water Services (No. 2) Bill 2013: Committee Stage (Resumed) (16 Dec 2013)

Trevor Ó Clochartaigh: The Minister of State has not clarified what will be the projected figure.

Seanad: Water Services (No. 2) Bill 2013: Committee Stage (Resumed) (16 Dec 2013)

Trevor Ó Clochartaigh: To clarify, what the Minister of State said with regard to the consumer is that the first fix will come free of charge, so if there are any issues of leakage from the consumer's end, it will be fixed for free the first time for an individual homeowner. However, a group water scheme may have an application in for an upgrade of the scheme which has been waiting for five, ten or 15 years....

Seanad: Water Services (No. 2) Bill 2013: Committee Stage (Resumed) (16 Dec 2013)

Trevor Ó Clochartaigh: It is a very important point to clarify because, obviously, the Department will itself have limited resources as regards capital funding. If Uisce Éireann is to treat each group water scheme as a pure customer and charge it for every drop of water it is using, and if the scheme is losing a lot of water due to a lack of capital investment, this will put the scheme in a very detrimental...

Seanad: Water Services (No. 2) Bill 2013: Committee Stage (Resumed) (16 Dec 2013)

Trevor Ó Clochartaigh: What is the position of group water schemes, which at the moment are provided with water from the public system that manages the system from source? Until now, Mayo County Council, in the Cathaoirleach’s home county, has had discretionary powers where there has been leakage or overuse of water within the system to grant a write-down on the debts, and in many cases that has maintained...

Seanad: Water Services (No. 2) Bill 2013: Committee Stage (Resumed) (16 Dec 2013)

Trevor Ó Clochartaigh: I do not take much solace from the Minister of State's answer because what he is saying feeds into my question. On the figures available to us, capital investment in water has been cut from almost €435 million in 2011 to €331 million in 2012, with more cuts planned until the budget is €266 million. The Minister said we would need €600 million a year to keep up...

Seanad: Water Services (No. 2) Bill 2013: Committee Stage (Resumed) (16 Dec 2013)

Trevor Ó Clochartaigh: Can the Minister tell us what the planned capital expenditure for next year will be because my fear is if we do not have the €600 million we need, and we only have €250 million or €260 million, the lion's share of that will be swallowed up by the bigger counties, certainly on the eastern seaboard? It is all well and good for Galway County Council or county councils in...