Brian Ó Domhnaill (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Cuirim m'urraim leis an méid atá ráite ag go leor de mo chuid chomhghleacaithe i dtaca leis an mBille seo. Is dócha an chéad rud ná fáilte a chur roimh an Minister of State to the House again today. This Bill started out as one which everybody would probably have welcomed. It was making general alterations to environmental legislation and providing for the transfer of assets from one Department to another.The Bill proposes amendments to the Air Pollution Act and to the EPA Act. It contains regulations relating to harmful chemicals, to vehicle respraying, the regulation of dry-cleaning solvents, powers to grant air pollution licences, regulations on the non-use of motor vehicles and regulations on producer responsibility initiatives. Then suddenly, Irish Water became embroiled in the legislation for one reason or another.

While I fully appreciate the Minister of State is not the Minister responsible, and while ultimately between Committee Stage and Report Stage in the other House, alterations were introduced to this legislation which deserve broad support, as we say as Gaeilge, an eireaball a chuir sibh leis, the tail the Government put to the legislation in the form of amendments to the Irish Water legislation, means it is not possible for this side of the House to support the Bill. Senator Landy is correct that it is a utility company, but it will now become a utility company with more legal protection than any other utility company in the State. No other utility in the State is being given protection with regard to, for example, consumer databases, payments of charges or charges fixed against properties, and which protection is being enshrined in legislation. Irish Water is being given those powers. This will cause fundamental problems in the execution of wills, in the conveyance of property and in general property transactions, whether for sale or being handed on as inheritance or gifts. The Leas-Chathaoirleach is a solicitor and will have more experience in this area than me, but I can foresee problems down the line. This will take the same route as the septic tank charge and the other charges such as the property tax introduced by the Government. This will be another charge on a property which will make legal transactions more complicated. Solicitors will need to exercise more thorough due diligence.

Why give such sweeping powers to a utility company? It certainly makes Irish Water more financially attractive on the open market because of the database, the protections and the legal obligations. This is wrong. Whether we agree or disagree with charging people for water is a separate issue. On balance, I think that people should pay for a service. The difficulty I have with the establishment of Irish Water is that the powers, charges and collection rights are being handed to a utility company established by the State. We are told that European regulations stipulate that it is at arm's length but that company is being set up to be sold later. It is similar to what happened in England and the same prototype is being set up here as happened with Thames Water and Yorkshire Water. Those companies were off balance sheet and sold. The Labour Government in 1997 was returned under Tony Blair and tried to recover those companies but was unsuccessful. The privatisation of water in England has resulted in increases of 200% in charges over an eight-year period. That is where we are going. On the face of it and going into an election, the conservation grant of €100 per household sounds great and there will be no major charge this year. However, those charges and the charging model are only in place until 2017 or 2018.