Sean Barrett (Independent) | Oireachtas source

Senator Bacik mentioned we might debate Irish Water again and I agree with what she said about the Minister, Deputy Kelly. If the approach he took had been the one adopted when this debate commenced, we would not be in the situation we are in now. When he introduced the Taxi Regulation Bill, he accepted many amendments and also tabled many amendments. Amendments to the water services legislation were comprehensively refused by the then Minister and we could see where that would end up. The notion of such equity investment off the balance sheet is a piece of economic hocus-pocus and I do not know why the Government bought into it. It is causing the problem. There are serious equity issues. A family of four on an income of €100,000 would pay approximately 19 times more income tax than a family on an income of €15,000. There is not that degree of progression in terms of the water tax, which is the reason people on low incomes with hardly any disposable income are protesting. It is regressive, it is like the poll tax and is based on economies of scale. The numbers in the McLoughlin report show that Leitrim, which is the smallest county, has one of the least leakages at 36%. Large counties such as Mayo, Galway, Donegal, Cork and Tipperary have ten to 15 percentage points more in leakages. If the Government is proceeding on the basis that small is ugly and big is beautiful and that we need one big organisation, that is not shown by the data. That aspect must discussed also.

I draw attention to the matters discussed at yesterday's meeting of the Joint Committee on Transport and Communications chaired by Deputy John O'Mahony. I am glad that delegates from the Web Summit are present in the Visitors Gallery. The postcode system that Ireland is adopting was dismissed by everyone yesterday as being massively expensive and useless. The numbers are not sequential, is hugely expensive and is outdated technology. We have the technology that can recognise where letters addressed to Clones should go. There is no need to add seven digits. Concern has been expressed by people, including Deputy Olivia Mitchell, about the tendering process and the continuous payment for this outdated technology to a company which apparently was a consultant on the project. Let us not have two scenarios like Irish Water happening at the same time. I ask the Minister, Deputy White, come into the House to address this. We asked the former Minister, Deputy Rabbitte, to come into the House before we signed up for this system to outline what it is supposed to do. The view of the Freight Transport Association, the industry involved, unanimously was that the system was of no use and that the numbers are not sequential. There are also views from those in the civil rights sector that it will disclose information about citizens which should not be available rather like the request for PPS number in the case of Irish Water. I call for a debate on the postcode system before it ends up as an another economic disaster.