John Gilroy (Labour) | Oireachtas source

On the amendment, the Opposition has thrown in the kitchen sink. Opposition Senators have called the introduction of the grant madness, a shambles and a farce. It has been described as everything except what it is. Senator David Cullinane said little, apart from shouting the word "joke", which might describe his own party's policies on the economy and water services. Sinn Féin has a 19 line, 223 word policy paper which states it will abolish Irish Water without referring to what will become of the infrastructure and whether we will revert to having 31 local authorities providing water services. Will Sinn Féin allow raw sewage to continue to pour out of 47 towns? When the Government decided to give €100 to encourage and support people in conserving water, the Opposition claimed it was wrong. If it was not so illogical, it would be farcical. People have to pay their water charges. Any responsible legislator will acknowledge that it is the law of the land and, while we might not like it, it is highly irresponsible of Opposition Members to encourage people to pay only the charges and taxes they choose and to ignore laws they do not like. That does not make sense to me and it is not what I consider to be democracy.

Levels of payment are similar to the payment rates when the property tax was first introduced, but the compliance rate with the property tax is now in the region of 96%.

I do not think anyone has addressed the actual section in question which outlines the necessity of having a database. Every Department is investigating the potential for cross-referencing and amalgamating information technology systems. Opposition Members are constantly calling for such reforms, but just because it suits their agenda of opposing water charges, this database must be stand-alone. It makes no sense. If we could argue on the merits of the Opposition's logic, I would be happy to engage, but they are making a meaningless argument. They are against water charges and water conservation and will throw in any old argument to muddy the waters.