Mary Fitzpatrick (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister of State and thank him for bringing forward this important Bill. It is important, at a fundamental and basic level, that we responsibly manage our water resources in a sustainable way. To do that, we need to know what is going on with them, how much water we are abstracting, where it is being abstracted and how it is being managed. On behalf of the Fianna Fáil Members of the House, I welcome the Bill and we support it. We particularly support the fact that the Bill aims to modernise and bring up to current standards the registration, licensing and control regime for abstractions of water.

The proposed system in the Bill of registration and licensing is to be administered by the EPA, with local authorities also maintaining an ongoing enforcement role. We welcome in particular that it will be a joint activity, and we believe local authorities have served us well in the past and can certainly serve us well into the future. They bring institutional experience and have a track record, as well as having local knowledge. We support local authorities' involvement in ongoing enforcement.

The Minister of State mentioned how abstracts are currently being governed by outdated legislation. The Water Supplies Act 1942 is 80 years old and the Local Government (Sanitary Services) Act 1964 is almost 60 years old. The world has changed so much in that time. That is another good reason for us to support the Bill and, it is to be hoped, see it passed expeditiously.

As a member of the Joint Committee on Housing, Local Government and Heritage, I have had the benefit of being a part of the pre-legislative scrutiny. We thank the Minister of State and his Department for the support they lent to that. We also heard from external expert witnesses who attended the committee and gave generously of their time to help inform our pre-legislative scrutiny report. This legislation predates this Dáil and Seanad and goes back to 2018 but our work took place in October 2020 and our report was published in January 2021.

The committee comprises representatives from Government and Opposition and made a number of recommendations. The committee specifically recommended that the threshold for registration be lowered to 10 cu. m and the licensing threshold be lowered from 2,000 cu. m per day to 20 cu. m. This recommendation was considered and provision has been made in section 16 of the Bill for the Minister to have the power to specify or reduce the registration threshold and to specify or vary the licensing threshold for the purpose of the sustainable management of water resources. We welcome that. When the Minister of State is replying to the debate, it would be helpful for the House if he could outline how that might work in practice, whether it is he or any future Minister who holds office.

The committee also recommended the removal of the provision in the Bill that did not allow an existing abstractor to be refused a licence. This provision has been removed, which we welcome.

Provision in the Bill, in accordance with the committee's recommendation, has been made for the inspection application of remedial measures, the adjustment enforcement of remedial measures and the suspension and revocation of licences where the abstraction is not meeting the required conditions or abiding by the necessary regulations and guidelines.This is very important and it is important that it operates effectively. The Minister of State might give us an example of how that will work in practice. Provision has also been made in the Bill for assessing compliance with and enforcement of regulations applying to abstractions that do not require a licence and certain abstractions that require a licence pending the agency’s decision to grant the licence. There is also the question of the response to the committee's recommendations regarding enforcement and compliance with the registration and licensing regime.

It is a big Bill and important that we get it right. We are committed to working with the Minister of State, the Department and all Members of this House to see this legislation passed expeditiously but, most importantly, effectively. This will ensure that abstractions of water that take place within our jurisdiction not only serve us in the immediate term, but serve generations into the future and ensure that Ireland's water supply is managed in a sustainable and responsible way into the future. Go raibh maith agat, a Aire Stáit. I look forward to hearing from the rest of the House.