Results 19,181-19,200 of 28,255 for speaker:Éamon Ó Cuív

Water Services (Amendment) Bill 2011 [Seanad]: Report Stage (Resumed) (25 Jan 2012)

Éamon Ó Cuív: That does not seem to have been happening all day.

Water Services (Amendment) Bill 2011 [Seanad]: Report Stage (Resumed) (25 Jan 2012)

Éamon Ó Cuív: Perhaps we would make more progress then because there are many other issues which I hope we will reach. The Minister might arrange for a Friday sitting this week to allow us continue the debate on the Bill and deal with every amendment because they are all very important.

Water Services (Amendment) Bill 2011 [Seanad]: Report Stage (Resumed) (25 Jan 2012)

Éamon Ó Cuív: No, a Government one that the Members opposite would have to attend.

Water Services (Amendment) Bill 2011 [Seanad]: Report Stage (Resumed) (25 Jan 2012)

Éamon Ó Cuív: No. We opposed the sham Friday sittings where all the Members opposite go home.

Water Services (Amendment) Bill 2011 [Seanad]: Report Stage (Resumed) (25 Jan 2012)

Éamon Ó Cuív: The Minister is not accepting the amendment but he has now indicated clearly, and he might nod his head if he is not allowed answer me verbally, that before he commences this legislation, we will have had a full opportunity to debate the regulations in regard to maintenance servicing and the operation and upgrading of domestic water systems, and that we will have an opportunity also to check...

Water Services (Amendment) Bill 2011 [Seanad]: Report Stage (Resumed) (25 Jan 2012)

Éamon Ó Cuív: I move amendment No. 3: In page 5, to delete lines 7 and 8. This amendment involves two clear issues, one of which is the removal of the omnibus section which provides for the making of regulations. As I have explained the reasons previously, I will not elaborate ad nauseam on my objection to such provisions which tend to be used extensively to create further regulations. The other issue...

Water Services (Amendment) Bill 2011 [Seanad]: Report Stage (Resumed) (25 Jan 2012)

Éamon Ó Cuív: I will explain for the benefit of Deputy Mitchell. Anyone who built a new house and connected it to the system paid an average, in recent times, of €2,000 in development charges. Many of Deputy Mitchell's constituents will be affected by this legislation if they have holiday homes in the west. She had better warn them of what is coming down the track because I do not think they have kept...

Water Services (Amendment) Bill 2011 [Seanad]: Report Stage (Resumed) (25 Jan 2012)

Éamon Ó Cuív: She is the one who is anti-rural.

Water Services (Amendment) Bill 2011 [Seanad]: Report Stage (Resumed) (25 Jan 2012)

Éamon Ó Cuív: I am stating a fact. People who get their sewage taken away by a pipe, whether they are in villages, towns or cities-----

Water Services (Amendment) Bill 2011 [Seanad]: Report Stage (Resumed) (25 Jan 2012)

Éamon Ó Cuív: The idea of a State is that one pays taxes according to one's ability and the tax code, and the money is meant to be distributed on an equitable basis to those who need it. I do not understand the premise that urban people - I am an urban person by upbringing myself - should have a greater right than rural people to have their waste water taken away and treated and the system upgraded and...

Water Services (Amendment) Bill 2011 [Seanad]: Report Stage (Resumed) (25 Jan 2012)

Éamon Ó Cuív: I do. I do a lot more travelling than she does.

Water Services (Amendment) Bill 2011 [Seanad]: Report Stage (Resumed) (25 Jan 2012)

Éamon Ó Cuív: I thought I was meant to address the House.

Water Services (Amendment) Bill 2011 [Seanad]: Report Stage (Resumed) (25 Jan 2012)

Éamon Ó Cuív: It has not cost the country anything.

Water Services (Amendment) Bill 2011 [Seanad]: Report Stage (Resumed) (25 Jan 2012)

Éamon Ó Cuív: Deputy Stanley is a patient man.

Water Services (Amendment) Bill 2011 [Seanad]: Report Stage (Resumed) (25 Jan 2012)

Éamon Ó Cuív: What is the hurry? A serious point of fundamental equity is being debated. The Minister is introducing a new inequity between urban and rural people. He is the one who is creating the urban/rural divide because he is saying that anyone who lives in septic tank land will have to pay the €50 registration charge and anyone who lives in urban land will not. I agree with Deputy Mitchell. It...

Water Services (Amendment) Bill 2011 [Seanad]: Report Stage (Resumed) (25 Jan 2012)

Éamon Ó Cuív: I am addressing the Chair. I am sure the Chair is fully appreciative of my addressing the matter through the Chair.

Water Services (Amendment) Bill 2011 [Seanad]: Report Stage (Resumed) (25 Jan 2012)

Éamon Ó Cuív: I ask the Minister to do the sensible thing. The amount of money this fee will yield is minuscule. It will never be collected again from anyone who registers now. His only chance of any new source of income is from people building new houses. The Minister has come a long way.

Water Services (Amendment) Bill 2011 [Seanad]: Report Stage (Resumed) (25 Jan 2012)

Éamon Ó Cuív: He should take the final jump. If he does not, everyone will believe this provision is being left for the good public service reason that if any sum is included in primary legislation it is very easy to change the figures in a minor amendment in the future. The game is not worth the candle in terms of national finances. The Minister knows that. It would not keep sewerage systems in towns...

Water Services (Amendment) Bill 2011 [Seanad]: Report Stage (Resumed) (25 Jan 2012)

Éamon Ó Cuív: No, it is the same document and there are people who could testify to that. I apologise, a Cheann Comhairle, for not addressing the Chair. It is very provocative when the Minister interjects.

Water Services (Amendment) Bill 2011 [Seanad]: Report Stage (Resumed) (25 Jan 2012)

Éamon Ó Cuív: You appreciate that. I would be the first to accept there has been hard work and slow steps. It would be a major step forward to get rid of this very minor provision, if we can trust the Minister, and I presume we can, that all he ever meant was that someone would pay €50 once and never again. I ask the Minister to reassure us on that point by abolishing the fee in total.