Brian Ó Domhnaill (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Okay. The charging plan, which will affect every citizen in the country, does relate to this section. The Minister of State, Deputy O'Dowd, has failed categorically to spell out in any reasonable fashion a ballpark figure for what consumers can expect to pay for water. If he is in control of this brief for the transfer to Irish Water of all of these powers, surely it would be reasonable for a consumer listening in on the Internet tonight to hear a ballpark figure from a Minister of State or are we correct in saying that he does not know, he does not want to know and he wants to give all of that power to the unelected and unaccountable staff of Irish Water and the Commission for Energy Regulation because that is what he is saying if he is not willing to give us a ballpark figure?

The second issue, which was not answered either, relates to waste water discharged into private sewers. Will those consumers pay for the water in and the water out, even though the discharges are going into private sewers, and how will that be calculated because it is not clear here? The Bill, in subsection 17(10), states, "For the purposes of calculating a charge under section 16, the amount of waste water discharged from a premises is deemed to be equal to the amount of water supplied to that premises, unless Irish Water and the customer agree otherwise." What process will be established to allow the customer to agree otherwise? Must every customer with the septic tank suddenly go measure the amount of waste water going into his or her septic tank? What will be the system? Will this be simple or will every house with a septic tank - it can be shown through planning permission - pay only for water in? Does that mean that such a house will pay 50% of what a similar house connected to a public sewerage system will pay? We need clarification on this. Let us take the analogy of someone living in Dunshaughlin village connected to the public sewerage infrastructure paying, for argument's sake, the €360 annual fee for water, that is, half for water in and half for water out. A mile out the road in a rural area of Dunshaughlin, would a consumer living on a farm who has a private septic tank pay half of what the consumer in the town pays? If Irish Water will not charge for discharged water, that would have to be the case because anything else would not be fair. Can we get clarification on that point? I ask the Minister of State to be specific in his reply.