Trevor Ó Clochartaigh (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Therefore, there is no comparison with what the Minister of State is introducing, namely, double taxation, because people are already paying for this tax from their general taxation. The Minister of State is now adding an unknown extra tax – he will not state how much – for a service in respect of which we do not know what we will get. We are not sure what investment will be made in the infrastructure.

The couple of hundred million euro being spent on water meters would be much better spent on installing the systems that need to be installed to fix the problems highlighted in the EPA reports year on year and to sort out the 34% leakage across the State. I am not confident that Uisce Éireann will solve those problems. The Minister has not instilled confidence in this regard during the debate. What he has given us is an awful lot of bluster. He needs to give us much more detail if he wants any of us to support this Bill.