David Cullinane (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I move amendment No. 25:

In page 10, to delete line 7.

The line stipulates that a complaint must be made to Irish Water by a registered customer. We see this as another stick in the Bill to encourage people to register. It has been said ad nauseamby many Senators that there are certain people who will not pay, who cannot pay and who will not register. For some this is a point of principle while others cannot afford to pay. A majority of citizens have no wish to see themselves as customers of Irish Water. Even the term "customer" suggests that water is becoming a commodity and is being commercialised. The fact that people must be registered with Irish Water before they can make a complaint about their water supply is wrong. This will disenfranchise many people from being able to make a complaint.
I understand exactly why the Government is doing this. It wants to force people to register or sign up and this is one way of doing that. It is a stick. What if a person is not connected to the water supply? Let us suppose a person has a well or whatever and Irish Water wishes to carry out testing or whatever with that supply. Is that person not allowed to make a complaint? That person may not be registered with Irish Water.
Let us consider the position of amendments tabled by the Opposition. We are always told about unintended consequences. Potentially, there may be unintended consequences with this provision if it holds that a person must be registered with Irish Water. I would have thought this could be a problem given that at the moment none of us is a customer of Irish Water. We never asked to be customers. We always got our water from our local authority. It was paid for through central taxation. Now, we are being forced to become customers, to use the Government terminology. The act of not registering could be an act of resistance by some while others simply cannot afford to pay and therefore will not register. It is fundamentally wrong to deny them the opportunity to make a complaint. I have made my feelings known on the matter. The amendment intends to reverse that and delete the requirement for a person to be registered with Irish Water as a customer. If the Minister accepts the amendment it means that every citizen, every person, regardless of whether they are customers, will have an opportunity to make a complaint.
This has no bearing whatsoever on the payment issue. It simply allows anyone, even if they are not customers of Irish Water, to make a complaint. Every citizen should be empowered or enabled to make a complaint if they so wish. We are concerned about this provision. It is being included to entice or force people to register or sign up with Irish Water.