Fergus O'Dowd (Louth, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Many of the points made by Senator Walsh are about a company which he is entitled to bring before the Oireachtas committee dealing with energy and interrogate it on the issues about which he is concerned. It is not my job to accept or reject what he says. He needs to make his points to Bord Gáis. I am happy to ensure he meets the company to discuss the points he has raised here, have them dealt with and see whether they stand up. We are not discussing Bord Gáis. We are speaking about Uisce Éireann, Irish Water, which will be an independent subsidiary of Bord Gáis, so it will not be a part of it and none of the operational costs of Bord Gáis will be part of Irish Water.

We have all been critical of regulators which is why it is so important to have transparency and accountability about everything the regulator will do. I have already stated it must be the case that the regulator will deal with all of the issues and advise the Government on many of them. I must stress there is no way any inefficiencies in Uisce Éireann will be allowed. The regulator will not do this. It will have to strip out any other costs.

To answer Senator Brennan, it is incumbent on us as a Government to explain the affordability of the water and how these issues will be dealt with. We have met the Society of St. Vincent de Paul, Fr. Healy and others and we are happy to listen to what they have to say, as I already told Senator Cullinane. I cannot foresee a case where people will be cut off. I can see cases where people who were not paying but could pay would be pursued vigorously. If one can afford to pay one must pay and that is it. There will be no hiding place. The Departments of Social Protection, Public Expenditure and Reform and the Environment, Community and Local Government and the Commission for Energy Regulation are all discussing these very important issues. As with electricity, it will be possible to have an easy payment programme. It will be important to put in place strategies to deal with individual cases. This is the only way it can be done.