Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Seanad for allowing the timely passage of this legislation before the summer recess. We all know the background to this legislation.What I and the Government are trying to do is to create a space and a window of opportunity for a discussion, the input of experts and recommendations to come through an expert commission to an Oireachtas committee. That can then allow us, in nine months time, to make a democratic decision as to how we want to pay for domestic water supply and the treatment of wastewater from households. We have had a lot of heat politically on this issue in Ireland for the last two to three years and people have taken very hardline positions on both sides of this argument. Whoever is in government in three, five or ten years time will have an obligation to ensure we are improving our water infrastructure nationally. We have a disgracefully bad infrastructure at present whereby nearly half of all the water leaks through the pipes before it gets to its destination and many households have been on boil-water notices for long periods.

There has been a decision, which I think is now accepted by most, that moving away from 34 - it is now 31 - different local authorities all doing their own thing on water, and moving towards a single utility model, makes sense. The Government is now putting a process in place to decide how we pay for that, whether that be through general taxation, as some would argue, through a cost recovery model where individual homes pay the full cost of delivering and treating water from their homes, or through some blending of the two, reflecting important issues like ability to pay but, at the same time, ensuring we have incentives around water conservation, better water management and putting a value on the cost of delivering and managing water and wastewater.

The expert commission is a group of very well qualified people. We took advice in regard to the skillset we should get and the number of commission members there should be from abroad and at home, and we acted on that advice. We had a setback in regard to the first chair but that has now been corrected and I am confident the new chair will do a very competent job. When the commission reports back in five months time, it will then be up to the political system to decide to respond to the recommendations in that report. That will initially be through a special Oireachtas committee that will be set up, and in which I am sure the Seanad will have an involvement. Then, after about three months, that committee will bring recommendations to the political system - to the Dáil initially - in order to have a debate and vote on what our international obligations are and how we respond to those. There are also key issues around whether we can create political consensus on something on which, as with other fundamental resources we have to provide to homes and people, we should try to get more political consensus than we have been able to get in the past.

Some people have taken a purist view on this. I know the former Minister, Deputy Kelly, took a very hard line and this was the wrong thing to do. We are living in a new political reality. We had to make choices and the choice was this: either we put a process in place that could get majority political support and will, hopefully, result in a sustainable political outcome in terms of how we pay for water, or people just stay in their corner and hold their lines. Both Irish Water and water charges would have been abolished after the election in the political heat of that debate. I believe that would have been a massive setback for both water infrastructure and the approach to water on which we need to have a mature and informed debate.

This legislation simply suspends water charges and all matters relating to that for nine months. That nine-month period can be extended if the committee asks for more time or if the Minister thinks more time is needed for the process. It will not be suspended just to be politically convenient in terms of extending for another two years, out past the next election - that is not what this facility is about. At some point in the next nine months, or maybe slightly later than that, if necessary, we will be faced with an important democratic decision that the Government will facilitate and the Dáil and Seanad will debate and decide on. I look forward to that process concluding and I hope we will be able to make decisions that make sense and can find acceptance across communities and will also respect the international obligations we have made around the water framework directive and other commitments.

Most importantly, I hope we can have a sustainable outcome to the water debates that communities and the political system can accept is the right way forward, and that we can get on with actually financing and fixing the infrastructure that is needed to be able to provide safe water for families and their homes into the future. Once again, I thank Senators for their timely and speedy consideration of this legislation. We will enact it now and get on with the process.