David Cullinane (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Cathaoirleach. It is good to see that Senator David Norris has gone home. This section deals with the penalties and sanctions. I said a number of times it is not the choice of any of the Opposition Senators to be here or to be debating the Bill in the manner in which we are doing so. We would have preferred this debate to be over a number of days but the Leader has organised the business in such a way that Committee Stage is to be done in one day, at the end of the year. That is not our fault. We have questions to ask on the sections. That is our job. I will certainly do it as will Senator Trevor Ó Clochartaigh. The Fianna Fáil Senators are also doing it.

The section deals with late payments and the sanctions in place. The Government had a sanction in place earlier in terms of turning people's water down to a trickle. I am glad that sanction has been removed because it would not be fair. It would have been despicable if we had a situation where people's water pressure had been turned down. However, there are still sanctions in place.

There will be penalties for those who do not pay after a year or enter into a payment plan. It will be August 2016 before the penalties can be applied. A single adult household will face a €30 penalty and €60 will apply to other households. Court attachment orders will not be used to collect unpaid water charges. The only method to be availed of is to place a charge on the property. That will happen to many families who cannot afford to pay or to older people where the levy or the charge will be put on the property itself. That will only become relevant when the house is sold. We also know that the Government and the Minister have not dealt with this issue and explained how it will work.

There is a commitment to introduce legislation to allow landlords to deduct unpaid water charges from tenants' deposits if necessary. The Minister has not explained how that will work and when he will introduce the legislation. That is a specific question, to which I would like an answer, because there was a reference to it in the budget speech of the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform. We have not yet seen the details of it but we should as people were concerned about it. A memo was sent to council CEOs instructing them to collect unpaid water taxes. How will that be done? What was contained in that memo? What are local authority managers being asked to do? This is the stick element. Senator Trevor Ó Clochartaigh spoke earlier about the carrot element of the Government reducing the charge to try to entice people in and once the principle of the charge is introduced it will be increased. The stick for people who do not pay, who cannot pay and who genuinely cannot pay is that they face these sanctions. Obviously we will not support such sanctions. That is why we oppose the section in its entirety. How is it fair that those people who cannot afford to pay will face those sanctions?

We heard from the Minister of State, Deputy Paudie Coffey, earlier that the Government is interested in fairness, that it will listen to those people who genuinely cannot afford to pay. If that is the case how will it work in theory? That is the level of detail we want from the Minister. That is what the people will be asking us. If they genuinely cannot pay what will the Government do? It has said it will be sympathetic and so on but specifically what will it do for those people who cannot afford to pay? If the Bill passes, these are subject to all the sanctions, including fines, penalties and attachment orders on their homes. What mechanisms will be put in place for those people who cannot afford to pay? The other specific question was in relation to landlords taking the money from people's deposits. When will that legislation be introduced? Is is still something the Government will do or has it gone by the wayside? What was in the memo that issued to the CEOs of local authorities and what instruction is being given to local authorities to collect unpaid water charges from tenants?