Mary Seery Kearney (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I very much welcome the motion. The Green Party motions are always very long and informative and we learn a good deal from them. I thank Senator Garvey for it. It is very good, comprehensive and reflects the programme for Government on which our three parties came together and agreed to move forward together.

I also welcome the White Paper. There is a great deal in it. I hope the Workplace Relations Commission, WRC, negotiations work very well and that the local authority employees feel comfortable about all the changes that are coming.

I came to the whole water issue a number of years ago having had the experience of working in Rwanda and seeing at first hand what happens when an entire community is impoverished when it comes to water and has to struggle with the provision of water. Thankfully, through Irish Aid, a water pump was installed and the entire community got the benefit of that. I saw that at first hand and, consequently, when it came to the idea of us paying for water, I had no inhibitions about that and felt it was the right thing to do. It is right that we are responsible and that we recognise this is a finite and precious resource, with all the caveats that those who cannot pay would not be denied access to water. I do not believe it was ever suggested that anybody would be denied water. However, I appreciate that there were challenges when it came to the issue of who could afford to pay.

I have also had the experience of having to negotiate on behalf of people whose residential development was a legacy of the Celtic tiger period in having to deal with its wastewater treatment. They were living in the middle of nowhere and were left there with a system that was at the mercy of a developer who would or would not accept responsibility for it. There are legacy issues such as that one that need to be considered and dealt with also, especially when those estates from the Celtic tiger era are being taken in charge now. Councils cannot step back and not take responsibility for something that was not the residents' fault. They bought their properties out of desperation on the outskirts of Dublin within the commuter belt, be that very far away from the city.

I draw the Minister of State's attention to the Arterial Drainage (Amendment) Act, which I know is not under his remit but that of another colleague. There is a provision in that Act that the Office of Public Works removes riverside trees and vegetation with heavy machinery that are affecting wildlife habitats. Can we review the necessity for that in the context of all of this work on water?

I fully support and would like to see us move as soon as possible towards a statutory provision to have our water always in public ownership.