Damien English (Meath West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

There were many reasons, but one of the reasons I came across was the actual fear that a meter could show that their usage would mean a bill of €1,000. This was a genuine concern, because they did not have the money and could not afford to have it. People were afraid of having a meter. That is the logic of introducing a cap on the cost of water, so that the supply would not cost more than €260 or €280 a year. A person could get used to looking at his or her meter and use of water and try to monitor usage. That is the idea behind putting a cap on the charges. In an ideal world a cap should have been introduced at the start in order to give people time to see how to work out their consumption and build trust in the system. I totally agree that this has to be done.

Let us bear in mind that before the suspension of charges, up to 75% of people had started to pay for water. From meeting people at the door, my judgment is that nobody likes to have a bill but most people kind of agree somewhere along the way that this has to be done if it can be done fairly. Let me reiterate that I said "most people", I am not saying everybody. Even when I meet people at the door they tell me: "You made a bags of bringing it in but we understand the logic of it." That is the type of comment I got, but I was also eaten out of it and ran from doors over it too. Most people said there is a logic but do not like the way it happened. That is what we have to tease out as well.

I have spoken about the costs already and we can deal with it afterwards, if need be.

Chairman, do I have more time?