John Dardis (Progressive Democrats)

I welcome the amendments the Minister made in the Dáil. I would like to comment on a few aspects of this debate. The Minister rightly stated that water should always be a public utility rather than being in private hands. He correctly pointed out some of the excesses which have marked the behaviour of private companies in Great Britain. I would like to make one or two small points which are relevant to this group of amendments and some of the other amendments.

Senator Moylan spoke about metering. Since I got married, I have paid for the water used on my farmyard and in my house. It has been measured by a meter. While I do not object to paying for water, I do not like doing it because I am aware that many people get water for free. I understand why it should be metered. A person who owns a cattle shed that requires a great deal of water is the same as a person running a business in any other industry and probably should be treated in the same way. Such people should not engage in special pleading.

As I said recently when responding to remarks made on the Order of Business about problems with the water supply in the west, I am concerned that senior local authority officials frequently see bodies of water such as lakes not only as sources of water but also as repositories for waste. Those two approaches are basically inconsistent. Like other Members of the House, I have a holiday home. The water supply to my holiday home, which is near Oughterard and Lough Corrib, is perfect. There is no difficulty with it because it does not come from Lough Corrib. Something must be done about the public sewerage system in Oughterard because it is polluting Lough Corrib. It was not designed to cater for the large number of houses it must deal with.

The Minister rightly reminded the House that great work is being done to reduce the amount of water leaked from the Victorian system used in Dublin. The system is losing approximately 30% of its water through leaks. A great deal of work is being done.

I am concerned about the ability of the River Liffey to meet the demand for water in Dublin, which is increasing as more developments are sanctioned. As someone who grew up near the river, I have noticed the decrease in its water level. When I was a member of a local authority, a report on the greater Dublin water supply was produced by Générale des Eaux. The section of the report relating to conservation recommended that the pipes system be improved.

We need to consider alternative sources of water. I suggested at the time that the River Shannon be considered in that context. The Leader of the House at the time was opposed to the possibility that anybody might touch Lough Ree, which is a huge impoundment. Millions of gallons of water could be taken from Lough Ree every day without making much of a difference to the lake's water level.