Fidelma Healy Eames (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I move amendment No. 17:

In page 6, line 7, to delete “1 January 2015” and substitute “the date of completion of the national water meter installation programme”.

The Bill states: "Where a dwelling is provided with a water meter installed by Irish Water and, at any time after 1 January 2015...". The Bill references everything commencing on 1 January 2015. I am not objecting to the substance of this paragraph but I do object to the commencement date. I am proposing that that line be changed from 1 January 2015 to the date of the completion of the national water meter installation programme.
Yesterday the Minister said that over 530,000 meters have been installed and that we are about one third of the way through that process. In other words, two thirds of the country remain to be covered with meters. I listened to the Minister say he believed that metering was the fairest way forward and that the OECD confirmed that. I agree that metering is the way forward but this programme should not start in any shape or form until the national water meter installation programme has been completed. That is the thrust of my amendment.
One of the features of this Bill from the start of the entire water programme is that it has been rushed and pushed, and that has got people's backs up. People need time to consider such a major change. It is universal. It is not just piecemeal; it has to be universal.
In the course of this debate this evening I got an e-mail from a family who asked me to please persist. It stated they were really scared, that they have an eight year old autistic son with chronic eczema and that they run four baths a day. He has to change his clothes a few times a day as he destroys himself at meal times. They asked me to imagine their water bill. That is just one person's story. That is extreme in terms of having to run four baths a day to manage eczema. I had a niece with eczema. I saw what my sister's family had to go through to deal with that. Thankfully, in some cases they grow out of it.
People need to get used to the idea that they will now have to budget for water. We know there is a flat charge proposed to 2019. I asked the Minister yesterday if he could confirm that that charge could be maintained post-2019 and that at the same time there could be an investment in infrastructure. I did not get an answer. I put that question to the Minister of State because people are afraid what the costs will be once the embargo on the flat charge is lifted, and I believe with some reason.
The amendment simply seeks that this provision would not start on 1 January 2015 but when the national water meter installation programme has been completed. This is a huge change for everybody to come to terms with and if we are to be fair and serious about conservation we need to give people the opportunity to have meters to measure usage and that after their meters are installed they would be given at least two terms during which they would get readings. The first reading would show what they used in the previous three months and would indicate whether they were above or below the national average for a family of that size. If they were above that it might perhaps be due to leaks because leaks cannot be detected by the naked eye. Many of them can be underground. I presume Irish Water staff will be equipped with leak detection equipment and would move then to fix that leak. The second reading would indicate to a family that their usage is now at the average for that family size. After that it is fair that there would be a charge for water.
Time is needed for this and in that regard this is a reasonable amendment. It states that once the national water meter installation programme is finished, it should then commence allowing two readings to be given to each family in the country.