Pat Gallagher (Donegal South West, Fianna Fail)

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 of metering for domestic users, who are exempt. If the water services authority, however, was of the opinion that water was being wasted by someone through the domestic system, it would be possible to meter that. This would not be to meter consumption for the purpose of charging, but to establish if water was being wasted. I am glad of the opportunity to clarify that.

The national water services public policy framework requires all local authorities to recover the cost of providing water services from the users, with the exception of households using the services for domestic purposes only. This is in accordance with the appropriate application of the "polluter pays" principle and the requirement of article 9 of the EU waste water directive. This framework does not provide for the exemption of specific classes of non-domestic users, including those engaged in the provision of educational or hospital services, from the charging policy. It would be regarded as inequitable to single out one sector and would lead, in any event, to great administrative difficulties, adjudicating the rights to exemption of one institution or sector from another. Exemption from charges would hide the true cost of service provision. This could be particularly problematic in the event of private and public sector institutions operating in the same sector, where balance and transparency would need to be maintained in the interest of equal treatment. I am not inclined to consider particular institutions, but if I was this would not be the appropriate Bill. It does not deal with water charges.