Terry Leyden (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

The Minister is sympathetic to people who are unable to pay, and I accept his goodwill and bona fides in this regard. To be quite clear, however, it would be in the Minister's best interests to include a provision on Report Stage, on Monday, to put that into hard fact and recall Dáil Éireann to sort this out. I make no apologies to any colleagues in the Lower House. I was a Member of the Dáil and was recalled from a family holiday abroad to bring in emergency legislation, so it is no problem at all. I left my family in some part of Europe and flew home to be here, although I am not going to make a song and dance about it. It was more important than some of the stuff before us. We were brought home to save a major employer in this country.

I accept the Minister's goodwill, but Ministers come and go. His sympathetic heart is clearly identifiable at this stage; he sounds very Christmassy, like Santa Claus. He certainly does not sound like Scrooge, though most of the Bill is more like Scrooge than Santa Claus.

Will the Minister elaborate on the situation? Is he saying that if a person is unable to pay, he or she will be exempt from the surcharge and, I presume, the charge? Who will decide on that? Is it a sympathetic Irish Water employee earning €100,000 a year or whatever he or she is getting? Or will it be decided by the Department of Social Protection, which is being brought into the scheme later, for some unknown reason?

I accept the bona fides of what the Minister is saying, but what he says cannot be cashed in. The Minister may say that a person put to the pin of their collar, with no food to put on the table, and who cannot send their children to school, will be exempt. I accept that this is very considerate, but I want it in black and white in this Bill. I and my colleague intend to table an amendment on Report Stage to try to bring this about.