Brian Ó Domhnaill (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

-----or any Minister can give a commitment that Irish Water will not be sold. Irish Water is being established on the principle of setting it up as a viable and financially independent enterprise, which would be very valuable on any international market. We have seen what happened in Britain. It has been referred to here many times. Similar utilities were set up there in the 1980s and early 1990s and were sold on. They had been set up on the same principle that is being used by the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government here. We are giving too much power to a utility company that is off the books and which will be independent of the State.

I have listened to what Senator Keane has said. The Government seems to herald Irish Water and the charging of customers as the solution to all the woes of the country's water problems. It forgets one thing. The €1.2 billion it has cost to run the water service up until now was made up of operational costs of around €700 million and capital costs of around €500 million. There was around €210 million coming in from commercial water rates, which means there was a shortfall of about €1 billion. That was being funded by the taxpayer. In 2015 and 2016, Irish Water will continue to be funded by the taxpayer. Small fees will come in but more money will be given away this year in a so-called conservation grant, which we can talk about later, to every house, regardless of whether one is registered. It will change in 2016, because only those who register in 2016 will qualify for the €100 conservation grant. In 2015, every house in the country, regardless of whether it is registered, will get a €100 conservation grant. Why are we giving out a conservation grant funded by the taxpayer? At a time when Irish Water is under unprecedented pressure, there is an announcement of a €100 grant to try to ease political pressure in the Government.

I think it is all wrong, totally wrong. The taxpayer is being totally exposed to the point where Irish Water becomes profitable. When Irish Water becomes profitable, it will be on the books and, of course, a Government will sell it, whether Fine Gael or Labour are in Government. Great offers will be made from outside vulture capitalists who will want to make profits and they will control the water of an entire nation. It will be sold later on because there is nothing contained within the legislation to enshrine the people’s right, that is, a referendum. The Government did not take that opportunity even though most - certainly most if not all - Opposition Members in both Houses, along with the vast majority of the people, want the rights to our water supply enshrined as a constitutional right.

The United Nations has mandated that water is a basic human right and it has written various research papers on that. The ESRI has come up with a research paper recently on behalf of the Minister of State's Department, which says that, in Ireland, families in the lowest income decile will experience difficulty in paying for water and that 4% of households will not be able to pay for water because of their income level. Most of those are in the lowest income decile but not all, because there are people living in the middle as well who may have big mortgages, families and children going to university and who are income starved as well. They are the Department’s figures. They are not my figures; they are not independent figures; they are the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government's figures. What will the Minister of State do to alleviate the pressure on that 4% of households? If there are 1.5 million households in the country, 4% is something in the region of around 60,000 households that will struggle to pay for water according to the ESRI-Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government report. I am sure the Minister of State has read the report and I hope she has an answer to the question that has been raised by that research. I would like to hear some of the Minister of State’s views on that and what the Department is doing. It cannot be dealt with on a one-fix-fits-all basis because we are dealing with impoverished families, whom we spoke about in the House last night and many of whom are under pressure from financial institutions when it comes to keeping their homes.

There are many issues. The Government is giving away the people’s rights to a utility company. It is very sad. It makes me sad that we are going down this road and that a Government would take this approach on behalf of the people because it gives unprecedented powers to a utility company.The ESB and Eircom were mentioned. However, they do not have the powers the Government is proposing to give to Irish Water. When one gets up in the morning, is it more important to have a glass of water or to be able to make a telephone call? One can survive without electricity but one cannot survive without water or food. Water is more important than food, according to the World Health Organization.

There are many variables here that have not been properly explored. There is a knee-jerk reaction. The political realities of the next general election are contained within this legislation. It is being rammed through this week and next week in the hope that it will ride into the sunset over the summer. Unfortunately, that will not be the reality for the families who will be affected by the legislation and the taxpayer who will be affected by it in five, ten or 15 years' time, when this utility is potentially put on the open market.