John Whelan (Labour) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister of State to the House and commend him on the progressive and constructive content of this Bill. It is eminently fair and sensible. Most reasonable people will agree that the Government is playing catch-up and is putting to right decades of neglect. As Senator Clune and others mentioned, ours is a Victorian infrastructure. To cite a phrase from the politics of another era, not NewERA, when the country was awash with money, I am sometimes bewildered as to what we did with it. We had a great opportunity to invest in strategic infrastructure, the most basic form of which is water, yet we still have counties that need to issue boil notices and there are leaks of up to 40% in the system. This is shameful. In recent weeks, water was rationed in the capital city. How embarrassing was it that thousands of investors and guests who came to this city for the Web Summit could not even have cups of coffee or showers before leaving their hotel rooms? I am intrigued that anyone would criticise the Minister of State for trying to right these issues.

Everyone knows that families are under a heavy burden. No one likes to see another bill coming through the letter box. As we have seen with the property tax and other charges, most reasonable people are willing pay a fair price for a fair service. They want to know that the water is safe and reliable. I do not know what the charge will be, but there will be an allocation per household and people who use more will pay more. Industry, commerce and farmers already pay for the water they use. We want people to take the next step with us down the road and pay a modest charge of perhaps €1 per day for all of the water their households need. That is not unreasonable.

It would be inconsistent of us to ask people to pay for water without fixing the leaks or building the necessary infrastructure. I might sound like a broken record, but I urge the Minister of State to build the Garryhinch reservoir once and for all. Bord na Móna has the plan and is ready to apply for planning permission. It would cost €540 million and Bord na Móna has secured investment capital. It would be a significant economic stimulus, creating 1,000 construction jobs over a five-year period and securing a water supply for the entire Leinster region for generations to come.

I am fascinated by some of the spurious arguments being made in this debate. It is as if water metering was a new phenomenon. We are the only country in Europe that does not have a water charge. We must broaden the tax base without putting all taxes on people's incomes. People claim that apartments cannot be water metered. Half of Europe lives in apartment blocks. Under the cupboard in each of those apartments are gas and water meters. We are not looking to reinvent the wheel. A small bit of cop-on would go a long way.

Recently, I heard worrying commentary from senior officials and engineers at Dublin City Council. They claimed that there would be water rationing and shortages in the Leinster region for the next ten years. They must be joking. The Government cannot allow this situation to persist. We must act with expediency and urgency. I seek a reassurance from the Minister of State that we will press ahead with ensuring a safe and sustainable supply of water.

I commend the Minister of State on the measures in the Bill that recognise and respect the contribution that local authority workers continue to make to the provision and reliability of our water services. Local authorities have done a great job over the years and it is important that we not lose the local knowledge and expertise that their workers bring to the table.

I am pleased that we are finally moving towards enabling Irish Water to operate. A single utility in a small country can ensure that we have a modern, reliable and safe supply of water. I am happy that the Government decided it would be a public utility. We have seen what happens when important infrastructure and utilities are privatised, for example, Eircom.

We have an appalling situation in rural regions which still do not have adequate broadband facilities. That is because the private sector seeks profit above providing a service. Members of this House who argued that we should have put Irish Water out for tender were wrong. It is important that the company is retained in public ownership for the benefit of the economy and the community at large. We are making great progress at last and people will pay water charges providing they see that the service is safe, secure and sustainable. In addition, the money raised must go back into the infrastructure. We cannot wait extra years before starting work on the Garryhinch reservoir at Portarlington, which is the most important piece of infrastructure in this water network and will ensure an adequate water supply. It would be absurd to ration water in Dublin while charging householders for it. People would not have confidence in us if that happened. It would undermine the Government's credibility and the process of establishing Irish Water because people will ask why they should pay for water when they cannot be sure of supplies. The Garryhinch reservoir must be built.