Results 12,981-13,000 of 13,270 for speaker:Pat Gallagher

Seanad: Water Services Bill 2003: Committee Stage (Resumed). (29 Jun 2004)

Pat Gallagher: This Bill does not deal with charges. Even if I were inclined to respond positively to the Senator's suggestion that schools should be exempt, it is not the appropriate Bill. There is no mechanism in this legislation to deal with that. Perhaps I did not clarify this sufficiently in my first response. I want to make it clear that metering will be for non-domestic users. There is no intention...

Seanad: Water Services Bill 2003: Committee Stage (Resumed). (29 Jun 2004)

Pat Gallagher: I am merely repeating what I said to Senator Paddy Burke. There is no opportunity in the Water Services Bill 2003 to allow me, the Government or the Opposition to introduce an amendment to exempt the institutions mentioned by the Senator from water charges. Absolutely nothing can be done. Lest I am giving the wrong impression, there is no intention to do that. In my earlier contribution I...

Seanad: Water Services Bill 2003: Committee Stage (Resumed). (29 Jun 2004)

Pat Gallagher: As far as agriculture is concerned, Senator Bannon is quite right. Agriculture is non-domestic and users pay a water charge. There is no demand by the rural water section of my Department, and no instruction has gone out, to ensure that group water schemes or the individuals in such schemes are metered. I am quite definite about that. I cannot accept this amendment. It has as its basis the...

Seanad: Water Services Bill 2003: Committee Stage (Resumed). (29 Jun 2004)

Pat Gallagher: This amendment is necessary to address situations where the volume of water used by a customer may differ from the volume of water supplied by a water services authority. The volume of water used may be affected by other factors such as leakage or illegal connections which are beyond the point of metering. In the circumstances the word "supplied" reflects more accurately the purpose of...

Seanad: Water Services Bill 2003: Committee Stage (Resumed). (29 Jun 2004)

Pat Gallagher: I thank Senator McCarthy for tabling his amendment. I have been advised by the Office of the Attorney General that Senators are correct in that the Irish title of the National Rural Services Committee should be included in the Bill. However, as we are discussing the English language version of the Bill, as is practice, the committee will be known by the English version of its name as is the...

Seanad: Water Services Bill 2003: Committee Stage (Resumed). (29 Jun 2004)

Pat Gallagher: Section 79 requires all water service providers other than a water services authority or its agent to be licensed subject to such classes of exception as the Minister may prescribe. The purpose of the amendment is to ensure that the introduction of modern design-build-operate procurement arrangements to the rural water sector will not cause confusion as to whether the contractor or...

Seanad: Water Services Bill 2003: Committee Stage (Resumed). (29 Jun 2004)

Pat Gallagher: This is a technical amendment to correct a typographical error.

Seanad: Water Services Bill 2003: Committee Stage (Resumed). (29 Jun 2004)

Pat Gallagher: This amendment replaces and expands the original section 92 to enable water services authority powers of direction in relation to connections to be applied not just to group water services schemes, but to individual water service consumers. It also provides for additional appeals provisions and introduces new provisions on future maintenance arrangements on shared connections to services. The...

Seanad: Water Services Bill 2003: Committee Stage (Resumed). (29 Jun 2004)

Pat Gallagher: The insertion of a provision restricting agreements under this section to fixed charge agreements is unnecessarily restrictive and pre-empts any ongoing development in public procurement policy. The purpose of this section is to enable a water services authority to enter into an agreement with a person to provide water services infrastructure with a view to that person subsequently...

Seanad: Water Services Bill 2003: Committee Stage (Resumed). (29 Jun 2004)

Pat Gallagher: Section 51 provides for the powers of a water services provider to temporarily interrupt services for maintenance purposes or where there is a risk to human health or the environment. The first of these amendments removes the seven day, prior notice stipulation from subsection (3) in regard to planned interruption of water services. It is not considered appropriate on a practical, operational...

Seanad: Water Services Bill 2003: Committee Stage (Resumed). (29 Jun 2004)

Pat Gallagher: The purpose of this amendment is to ensure the powers under section 52 to recover sums due can be duly assigned to any person performing a function under the Act. Section 52 provides generally that a county or city council acting in its capacity as a water services authority or its agent may recover any sum due to the authority either through the courts or by deduction from any other moneys...

Seanad: Water Services Bill 2003: Committee Stage (Resumed). (29 Jun 2004)

Pat Gallagher: I am referring to any debt that would be due to a county or city council acting in its capacity as a water services authority. Section 52(6) enables the Minister to assign his powers to others, such as a group water scheme or contractors, to recover debts over and above the water services authority. This amendment provides the mechanism — nothing more, nothing less — for them to do so.

Seanad: Water Services Bill 2003: Committee Stage (Resumed). (29 Jun 2004)

Pat Gallagher: There is no domestic water charge.

Seanad: Water Services Bill 2003: Committee Stage (Resumed). (29 Jun 2004)

Pat Gallagher: It would have been foolish of me to expect to go through 50 sections of the Water Services Bill without reference to water charges. I am delighted to confirm that there are no domestic water charges and the Government does not intend introducing them, whether Senator Bannon welcomes this or not. The Bill does not contain any provisions for the introduction of water charges. Instead, primary...

Seanad: Water Services Bill 2003: Committee Stage (Resumed). (29 Jun 2004)

Pat Gallagher: The record of the debate will show that I said there are no domestic water charges. There are water charges for supply in other areas. I do not know what is the Fine Gael Party's policy on this but the Government does not intend——

Seanad: Water Services Bill 2003: Committee Stage (Resumed). (29 Jun 2004)

Pat Gallagher: The Bill will not be used as a vehicle to introduce charges. While, there are, rightly, charges for certain supplies, there are no domestic water charges.

Seanad: Water Services Bill 2003: Committee Stage (Resumed). (29 Jun 2004)

Pat Gallagher: In considering this amendment, I regarded the extent to which it would bring clarity to the intended meaning of the section. However, nothing sufficient will be gained by the addition of the term "to a material extent" to warrant its inclusion in the text. Ultimately, it will be a matter for the courts to decide whether an action of an accused person amounts to wilful waste of water. In doing...

Seanad: Water Services Bill 2003: Committee Stage (Resumed). (29 Jun 2004)

Pat Gallagher: The intention of these amendments is similar to the earlier proposal to amend section 53 by inserting a reference to wastage of water to a material extent. It can be reasonably expected that in considering whether an offence has been committed under section 54(1) and (2), a court will not find against the owner of a premises in circumstances where the event for which they have been prosecuted...

Seanad: Water Services Bill 2003: Committee Stage (Resumed). (29 Jun 2004)

Pat Gallagher: This amendment is consequential on amendment No. 6. The definition of distribution system is revised and is now located with other similar definitions in subsection (2).

Seanad: Water Services Bill 2003: Committee Stage (Resumed). (29 Jun 2004)

Pat Gallagher: This amendment incorporates a series of changes and updates to section 55 to expand its scope and synchronise it with similar provisions to section 61 with regard to connection to waste water services. The entire section as revised is reproduced as one amendment to facilitate a clearer understanding of the effects of the various changes to the existing text. Section 55 prohibits unauthorised...