Deirdre Clune (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I say well done to the Minister of State on getting to the Bill to this stage and on the establishment of Irish Water. This is the second Bill this year and this one provides for the transfer of water services which are currently the responsibility of the 34 local authorities.

I welcome the Bill and have always been supportive of the establishment of an organisation like Irish Water which is important for many reasons. It is most important we have efficiencies, we do not have gaps in the services and we have oversight of our water supply and water treatment. The issue of water charges was mentioned by Senator Walsh. Water charges were required to be introduced following the agreement with the troika, so I am surprised Fianna Fáil opposes the Bill on that basis. There seems to be collective amnesia in some quarters. Having said that, I have always agreed with water charges.

The need for an establishment like Uisce Éireann was brought home to me in November 2009. When I was preparing my notes for today, I thought about November 2009 when Cork had severe disruption to water supplies. Following flooding of the water treatment plant in Cork, there was no water available in the city, although there was in the county council area. Cork city is a small area but there was no connection between the two areas. It highlighted the fact we do not have a system which crosses municipal boundaries. Also at that time, during severe cold weather, a number housing estates were without water, in particular those built relatively recently, because the pipes were not at a sufficient depth below the surface and were subject to freezing.

This happened in an era when we know well that pipes need to be below a certain level - I think it is a metre to the underside - to be out of the freezing zone. That was allowed to happen. I know it is another story but it is one that Irish Water or Uisce Éireann will have to consider and resolve over the next few years. Uisce Éireann is being established to introduce efficiencies and we had a very informative briefing on this yesterday. Instead of having 34 individual authorities preparing their water plans and buying services, all of that knowledge and experience will be pooled in one authority. That is very welcome. It will be a better service for the consumer. Irish Water will produce its strategic plan. There will be a regulator. Irish Water will have to establish what and how it will charge. This will lead to a more transparent system, which will be very welcome. Like the Minister of State and most people in this House, I served in a local authority. At this time of year when we prepared our estimates the issue of charges to the non-domestic user was always very contentious because there was a suspicion that the commercial sector was supporting the domestic sector in the absence of domestic charging. That will all be in the past and there will be more openness and transparency.

We need to review the water infrastructure. There has been investment and significant progress on this in the past 15 years. I mentioned the issue that arose in Cork in 2009. In the past month the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government gave the go-ahead for a connector between the two local authorities and this year there has been funding for refurbishment of the water scheme in Cork. I am sure that there are other positive stories like that throughout the country. There is much more work to be done.

The urban wastewater discharge update report published by the Environmental Protection Agency, EPA, last June stated that 42% of wastewater treatment plants do not meet all quality standards or EPA guidelines. Different schemes have been stitched together which compromises the national supply and many of our systems are out of date. Some date back to the Victorian era, others from the 1950s and 1960s when we replaced sections of our network with asbestos cement. We also need to replace the lead piping. Our network is not of the required standard. There have been breakages and leaks that have been patched up across the country. We need to draw up a scheme to replace the essential networks that will be part of the plan. Some of that is already happening.

We need certainty of supply, and of its quality and cost, which we will get now. In respect of foreign direct investment, would-be investors need to see that there is a secure supply. The pharmaceutical and ICT sectors are massive users of water. There has been much infiltration of ground water into our sewerage network which loads the wastewater treatment. All those problems need to be sorted out. The fact that we have longer, drier spells now means that security of supply and storage facilities needs to be addressed.

I welcome what the Minister of State said about those workers who will transfer from local authorities to Irish Water, and that he may have to introduce an amendment on Committee Stage to protect the employment rights they have built up. It is a welcome proposal because they are concerned about that. I acknowledge that the service level agreement with the local authorities will ensure that the corporate knowledge and experience that they have in dealing with the local networks will not be lost and will continue to be available to Irish Water.

The consultation period with the regulator on how the charges will be established will be very important. The Government has not yet established the terms of the free allowance or where it will be but it is important to establish that there will be an allowance. I am sure that will come up in the debate, in respect of people who have medical needs, or large families. The Minister of State said that it will not be possible to cut off the water supply but restrictions will be in place. There will be caveats to that statement because there will be people who refuse to pay even though they can pay.

I welcome this Bill. Bord Gáis has experience of managing its own network across municipal boundaries and of dealing with customers on an individual basis and on a larger scale. This knowledge is very important and its experience is perfectly pitched to this type of performance. This is a good day. We look forward to weeding out all the difficulties we have with our water supply and treatment. We need to send out the message that we have a world-class system where there has been a dearth of much-needed investment. We look forward to progressing in the years ahead and we look forward to getting to a point where we can see and plan ahead how our water services can be developed and protected.