Jerry Buttimer (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The Fine Gael Party has always been a party of probity, responsibility and fiscal management in government. We have always wanted to ensure that we would have a fair, robust and multilateral approach to the future funding of domestic water. I want to join with all the Senators who commended Senator Ó Céidigh for his chairmanship and stewardship of the committee and to commend the Fine Gael members for their role in the committee. Everybody recognises that the provision of clean drinking water does not come free of charge. It needs to be paid for. I do not want to pre-empt the report because, as the Cathaoirleach rightly said, we will have a debate on it in this House. What we are going to see is the retention of Irish Water and metering, and a charge for those who use excessive quantities of water and do not conserve water and treat it properly. We will see compliance with the EU obligation. We will see equality and fairness, that those who have paid their water bills will not be treated as second class citizens. I very much welcome that.