Pauline O'Reilly (Green Party) | Oireachtas source

My amendment, No. 3, was ruled out of order. It is fair to say that it contradicts this amendment. While I have the utmost respect for Senator Boyhan, his view is in direct contrast to the recommendations of the Joint Committee on Housing, Local Government and Heritage, of which he is a member. He referred extensively to the IFA. I will refer to the Sustainable Water Network, SWAN, whose representatives appeared before the committee, and also Inland Fisheries Ireland. Both organisations recommended that we reduce the threshold from 25 cu. m to 10 cu. m. We must have an element of future planning. We know that our waterways are under pressure, in particular in the south east where most of the abstractions happen. That would lead us to believe that many of the abstractions below 25 cu. m are from agriculture and that it is where much of the pressure is coming from. When we look at the abstractions over 25 cu. m, the majority are for domestic use. I do not think we will see a dramatic change in that regard because people will still need to use water.

We must have a proper system of recording water abstraction in this country. In Northern Ireland, Scotland and the UK more broadly, the level is 10 cu. m. There is very little explanation as to why the level is not being reduced from 25 cu. m to 10 cu. m. I know the Minister has gone before the committee and that explanations were issued. I note again what the committee stated in its report:

The Committee notes that in the explanatory note under Head 5 of the General Scheme, the Department has stated that this approach [the 25 cu. m] mirrors that taken in Scotland and Wales, where a relatively small quantity of water is exempt from the requirement to be either registered or licensed.

It is not 25 cu. m but 10 cu. m in those countries. The matter warrants further investigation. I do not agree that my amendment should have been ruled out of order because registration is free and is done via an online portal. It would give us more information and could reduce the cost to the State. If we were experiencing a water shortage at a particular time and we had contact details for all those extracting more than 10 cu. m, we could contact them and ask them, even on a voluntary basis, to reduce their water abstraction on days when we are experiencing drought.That could actually save the State money overall and prevent considerable stress across the country. I hope to introduce something similar on Report Stage. I do not believe my amendment should have been ruled out of order because I believe it could actually save the State money rather than costing money.