Maurice Cummins (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I join with the Leas-Chathaoirleach and all the Members of the House who have welcomed Senator Craughwell. We all look forward to working together for the benefit of the country. I wish him, his wife and his family every success over the coming years. Senator Craughwell was elected in probably the most interesting Seanad by-election that has ever been held and we compliment and congratulate him. I am sure he will be a wonderful addition to this House.

A number of Senators spoke about their wish list for the budget.

We await the details of the budget which we will have in a couple of hours.

Other Senators raised the issue of direct provision. We had lengthy debates on that issue, and Members have welcomed the working group on direct provision that has been set up. When that report comes out we might be in a position to have a debate on it in the House.

In response to Senator Leyden, I am sure all of us would like to congratulate our two new Deputies in the other House. I compliment Senators Cáit Keane and John Kelly, who contested those by-elections as well.

Senator Noone raised the issue of the removal of the long wave service, an issue raised on several occasions last week and prior to that by Senator Mooney. I understand it is about to be addressed by the Joint Committee on Transport and Communications tomorrow. Members who are interested in that issue should attend that meeting.

Senator MacSharry spoke about the leaking of the budget. We have had that for many years where journalists were doing their job in trying to determine what would and would not be in the budget, but they will all have to wait to see what it will contain. Likewise, Senator Barrett spoke about tax relief but we will have to wait the announcement on that, as well as the transparency required in respect of Irish Water.

Senator Burke pointed out that Deputy Eoghan Murphy in the other House brought forward a tax transparency Bill, which spelled out where people's tax goes. That is a good idea.

Senator Cullinane spoke about water charges. I will try to arrange for the Minister, Deputy Kelly, to come into the House to address that. The Government is aware of the need to protect and support vulnerable households. A number of measures have been introduced to help in this regard, including a free allowance of 30,000 litres of water supplied and wastewater treated per annum for primary residents on a public supply; a free allowance to cover the normal usage of water services by every child in their primary residence based on the same qualifying conditions as a child benefit allowance; a capping of charges for customers for specific medical conditions which require additional water consumption; and Members should note that from January 2015, the household benefits package will include a new water support payment, which will be €100 per year. There might be some other news in that regard in the budget-----