David Cullinane (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I am sorry but I think the Minister's response raises more questions than it answers. If the Minister does not know where this is all going in the long term, then who does? He is introducing the Bill and he is charged with having that long-term vision of how all of this will work out. It is not about having a crystal ball, it is about having a vision and a policy analysis of the long-term logic of introducing water charges and, especially, establishing Irish Water. The only reason we currently have subvention from central Government for the provision of water is because we do not have domestic water charges. If only commercial entities benefited from water there would be no State investment because the full cost of the charge is both in and out and, as I understand it, capital investment is passed on to the commercial user. Is that the logic of this Government? Apart from the conservation arguments put forward for water charges, the Minister of State also keeps telling us that this is a European policy and we are one of the few countries in Europe that does not have such charges.