Paschal Mooney (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister of State to the House. This is comprehensive legislation, however, like the election candidate on the night of the election count who, unsure of the outcome, carries two speeches, one of acceptance and one of concession, I have two documents that relate to the Bill. The first is a briefing note relating to the Environment (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2014 which I received last week, before this legislation was introduced into the other House. It said Fianna Fáil supported the Bill and that the introduction of fixed payment notices to deal with air and chemical pollution offences is a more reasonable and cost-effective means of enforcement and deterrence than dealing with offences in the courts. We also welcomed the increased functions and powers that were to be given to local authorities and the EPA to enforce the smoky coal ban in restricted areas, although we raised the point that it is questionable how enforceable the ban is.

The recent extension of the ban on smoky coal outside the major cities to other urban areas has sparked concerns that the ban would be virtually impossible to enforce, for example, in the extended smokeless coal zone around Cork city. Earlier this year, the then Minister, Phil Hogan, said he envisaged a nationwide ban on the use of smoky coal within the next three years, which would be the way to go. People can source coal from Northern Ireland, where lower environmental standards on solid fuel apply. It is questionable how enforceable the ban on smoky coal in the restricted areas is and will be in the future, given that people can buy fuel outside the zones. It would be far better to move rapidly to a national ban. I am not sure what the North-South relationship is on the issue. We should move towards a 26-county ban and look forward to entering a relationship with the Northern Ireland Executive on extending the ban across the North. Perhaps the Minister of State could comment on it in her reply.

That was the good news. The bad news is that we will oppose the amendments to the legislation, notwithstanding what I said about the generality of the Bill and the very plausible and acceptable elements in it. The Government has decided to use this otherwise innocuous Bill as a Trojan horse to implement further water charges legislation. The Government's sweeping amendments will create a new water customer database, make housing associations liable for charges, extract unpaid water charges from the proceeds of a house sale and place the burden of water charges on tenants rather than landlords. Instead of openly debating the issues in the main debate on the Bill in the Dáil, the Government has attempted to put them through under the radar. Despite the fiasco that surrounded the introduction of Irish Water, the Water Services Bill and all the legislation surrounding it, which has led to protests on the streets of our towns and cities, the Government is going ahead with the amendments without proper consultation and debate.

We believe this has contravened Dáil Standing Orders but that is a matter for the Dáil. When the Minister of State took the Bill on Committee Stage in the Dáil she said some amendments would be forthcoming but, when asked about their substance, said she was not in a position to say. This also raises concerns among Deputies and Senators. We cannot understand why the Minister has taken a Bill about air and chemical pollution and decided to amend it at the latest possible stage with a series of changes to the Water Services Bill. It illustrates a lack of transparency the Government has taken in its approach to water charges from the outset, such as when it rammed through the original Water Services Bill, although, as I have said before, I exclude in this the Leader of the House. While the Bill was guillotined in the Dáil, considerable time was devoted to it in this House. The Leader ensured the Bill was not guillotined, notwithstanding the conflict that has arisen since and the controversy arising from it. We have concerns about Standing Orders 131, 136 and 141.

Amendment No. 21 places an obligation on the owner of a dwelling that is in receipt of service from Irish Water to register and provide details to Irish Water regarding the occupier of the dwelling. Amendment No. 22 provides that any water charges owing to Irish Water are paid on the sale of the dwelling. Amendment No. 23 provides for an amendment to eligibility for the water conservation grant. Amendment No. 24 provides for the establishment by the Minister of a database of water services provided to dwellings. Amendment No. 25 relates to the prosecution of offences provisions set out in sections 9 and 10 of the Water Services Act 2007.

I am curious to know about Part 8, section 44. According to the Minister of State's detailed speech, it amends section 6 of the Local Government Act 1998:

[T]to enable the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government to make the required payment from the local government fund to the Exchequer, as envisaged in the Revised Estimates Volume, in 2015. The amendment allows for a payment of up to €540 million to be made to the Exchequer in 2015. This reflects a budgetary decision agreed to and published as part of the Estimates process. This provision is simply giving legal underpinning to that decision.

The payment would come out of the local government fund, which is generated by motor tax. I was in the House when the then Minister, Martin Cullen, made it clear that he was ring-fencing the money that would be generated through motor tax for use by local authorities. It was going to be a substantial and significant amount of extra income that would accrue to local authorities and it was going to be ring-fenced.Am I right in suggesting that the allocation of €540 million has been raided and it will go back into the black hole of the Exchequer? All this is being done at a time when local authorities are crying out for more resources. It is a time when there is not a council in the country that is not passing motions, in advance of the budget, for increased and improved allocations of money for roads, regional, local and national, in their various administrative areas. I would be grateful if the Minister of State would clarify whether the €540 million will come out of the fund that was originally provided for this purpose.