Rónán Mullen (Independent) | Oireachtas source

Go raibh mile maith agat a Leas-Chathaoirleach. Cuirim fáilte roimh an Aire.

The Water Services Bill 2013 under discussion here today is to be commended as a first step in an attempt to deal with several key areas that have required urgent attention for a number of years. It is in line with the EU Water Framework Directive 2000, which aims to promote sustainable water use based on the long-term protection of available water resources, and is a key driver of water legislation in Ireland and across the EU. The main objectives of the directive are to achieve a good level of water quality by 2015.

Ever since the abolition of water charges by a coalition Government in 1996 the OECD, the ESRI, the Commission on Taxation and other organisations, have urged their reinstatement in some form. Indeed we are all aware of the need to engage with the search for a more efficient, cost-effective and environmentally sustainable system of water conservation and treatment in our country.

Most especially however, given the current economic climate, priority must be given to achieving these goals in a way that is socially just and equitable. There are three areas of concern to which I would draw the Minister's attention. First, the consequences for social justice which the creation of Irish Water by the Bill provides for, in particular how it proposes to determine and collect payment for services through the installation of a metering system. The Minister is no doubt aware that several models of payment were proposed in the position paper of January last year from the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government. The system of metering is to its credit a fair and sustainable method with significant advantages over the other models proposed. That can only be the case if the necessary safeguards are in place such as those found in the UK, for example, where low income metered customers with a high essential use of water receive support from a special "watersure" tariff. This caps the bills of metered households, particularly those in receipt of a qualifying means-tested benefit or tax credit at the level of the average bill for the company's operating area where the household either has three or more children living at home under the age of 19 or somebody in the household has a medical condition which necessitates a high essential use of water.

Although the programme for Government proposes a similar safeguard where water charges are to be based on usage "above a free allowance", no decision has yet been taken on the level of allowance to be provided and how it will be funded. I would suggest that there is a certain urgency to this decision being made given the cost will be in the region of ¤1 billion, a cost that will now be transferred directly to Irish householders who are already struggling to meet day-to-day living costs, as other Members have stated.

The Bill in its provision for the creation of Irish Water does so by eliminating the role of local authorities which have heretofore provided services relating to water charges and aims instead to centralise this process. This has the potential to further erode confidence in local democratic institutions. An excellent and cogent submission on this issue was made by Galway County Council to the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government. In arguing its case Galway County Council stated: "The council is of the view that the proposal will seriously undermine the local government system of which water services are a significant component and have a negative impact generally on local representation and accountability". In its submission to the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government the body makes the following points: locally-elected representatives will no longer have a role in water services provision, operation and management, further eroding the local government system and the principles of local representation; the role of Galway County Council in relation to planning and economic development will be seriously undermined unless it can retain a meaningful influence on decision making with regard to allocation of water service resources; and economic development will suffer if the infrastructural needs of local authorities are not only fully recognised but satisfactorily addressed.

All of these points could be equally made by other local authorities around the country, especially if we keep in mind the recent chaos surrounding the attempt to centralise the student grant system under SUSI, which like this Water Services Bill was designed with the aim of "supervising and accelerating" the State's delivery of a service.

The Bill is clearly the proposed legislative instrument which will give effect to the sense of urgency contained in the above mentioned 2012 position paper. However, many of the predicates which underlie that paper and indeed the other significant document which has informed this discussion, the 2008 Forfás document "Assessment of Water and Waste Water Services for Enterprise", have either been superseded by economic realities or are now hypothetical at best. For example, the 2008 Forfás document envisioned continued and rapid expansion of enterprise and urban settlement that would be heavily reliant on water well in to the future. Whatever else we may say it is highly unlikely this country will either need or require the amount of housing and thus water delivery services that was then predicted, and cited approvingly in the 2012 position paper.

Indeed Forfás itself in stating its methodological approach acknowledges that the model upon which the sense of urgency surrounding the delivery of water services is built is based on a number of key assumptions, such as the CSO's forecasts for population growth, the level of water demand per capita and current and future enterprise development, all of which must be scaled back given the new reality we find ourselves in. This gives us a measure of breathing space.

I welcome the Bill and share the Government's commitment to realise its key objectives to maximise value for money and to facilitate the scope for the participation of SMEs in the overall programme. Even if I have reservations about the authority under which such metering will reside, I welcome and share in the commitment to an environmentally sustainable solution, which can only benefit everybody.

I welcome and share the commitment to use one of our most plentiful natural resources to place us in a position of strategic importance in regard to industry and enterprise. I hope we can keep in mind the broader concerns for our greatest resource of all, namely, the people. Go raibh maith agat.