David Cullinane (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

It could be third time lucky in the context of the figures and I might get an answer on this occasion. I hate repeating myself but I want to go back over the figures again so we are all clear about how much money the Government hopes to generate for the water system, because that will determine the charge. Whether an ability to pay clause is included in the legislation is a separate issue.

The figure the Minister of State gave earlier was €1.2 billion. He also made reference to €200 million coming from commercial water charges, although, as Senator Ó Clochartaigh said, not all of that is actually collected. A sum of €240 million comes from capital funding, according to the Minister of State, but capital funding has been cut consistently in this area in recent years. We have already seen a reduction in capital funding for water infrastructure. That leaves a shortfall of €760 million that must be collected or made up from somewhere. That figure is based on the assumption that the Government will continue with the current level of capital investment. However, that is not what happened with other charges that were introduced in the past. With bin charges, for example, the full cost of the service was eventually passed on to the customer and then the service was privatised.