Maurice Cummins (Fine Gael)

The question of water has dominated the Order of Business, with quite a number of Senators contributing. The Government made a series of decisions on the establishment of Irish Water at yesterday's Cabinet meeting. It will be established as an independent State-owned subsidiary within the Bord Gáis Éireann group. This has followed a detailed analysis as to whether the public utility, Irish Water, should be established as a new State agency or under the stewardship of an existing State agency.

There will be no up-front costs to households for water meters or their installation. The exact details on pricing and the operation of the free allowance will be a matter for the regulator, as has been pointed out. We are the last country in the EU and the OECD to charge for domestic water supplies.

With regard to Bord Gáis, the Government completed a detailed analysis as to whether the public utility, Irish Water, should be established as a new State agency or under the stewardship of an existing State agency. On foot of that analysis the Government yesterday agreed to establish Irish Water as an independent State-owned subsidiary within Bord Gáis Éireann. Irish Water will be established as a public water facility and will remain in public ownership. I remind Members on the opposite side of the House, the Fianna Fáil Senators, of their party's commitment prior to the last election that the Fianna Fáil-Green Party Government included a commitment to introduce charging for treated water use that is fair, that significantly reduces waste, is easily applied, would be based on a system where households are allocated a free basic allowance with charging only for water use in excess of this allowance and that in keeping with the allocation of greater responsibility to local authorities, these will set their own rates for water use. This is the Fianna Fáil stance and it would mean different water charges in every local authority-----