Fergus O'Dowd (Louth, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

----- that meters encourage extra use, rather than reducing it. In essence, while there will not be grants for rainwater harvesting, there will be every incentive to reduce one's water consumption because one will be paying for what one uses. Therefore, it makes a great deal of sense to cut back and cut down. The reduction in demand also will have an impact on costs and for capital costs for improvements and so on. As for the averages that I have read in the literature, I have not seen a figure of less than 12% anywhere but I have seen much higher figures. For example, in the west of Ireland, I have seen figures as high as 70%. In Cavan-Monaghan, group water schemes have conserved approximately the same amount and, consequently, there are significant savings to be made.