Diarmuid Wilson (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister back to the House and commend him for the effort he is making, not only in this regard but in regard to the housing crisis as well. I am representing my colleague, Senator Jennifer Murnane O'Connor, who cannot be present today as she is at another engagement. She sends her apologies.

I welcome the suspension of water charges for a period of nine months. I welcome this legislation providing for the expert commission to look into the whole area of water charges and how we are going to pay for water, because we have to pay for water. As the Minister said, coming to a consensus as to how we do that is what this project is all about. Unfortunately, it is not going to be an easy task because the vast majority of the representatives in the Lower House are against the manner in which water charges were to be introduced. The whole concept has been badly handled from the outset, as I believe everybody will agree. The then Minister, Mr. Hogan, made a hames of it. The former Minister, Deputy Kelly, was thrown in at the deep end when the mess was created and, in fairness, tried his best. Now, the baton has been passed to the Minister, Deputy Coveney, and I wish him well with his endeavours in this regard.

I am in favour of water charges but my party policy, with which I am in total agreement, is that the infrastructure should be in place before any charges are made. However, we are where we are. I wish this project well and I hope it works. With regard to political consensus, no matter how logically the case is made, there are some people who will not accept it because it is not in their political interest to do so. That is another reality. From my party's perspective, we hope a reasonable proposition can be made by this expert commission.

I was sorry that Joe O'Toole, a former colleague in this House, had to step down. He is an excellent, capable and competent person. It is important to put on the record that he was not to be paid for doing that job, so if some people think he is losing out financially he is not. I wish him well in the future. I wish this legislation speedy passage.