John Cummins (Waterford, Fine Gael)

I fully appreciate and respect the Senator's bona fides on this and other matters to do with agriculture. I know he has always been a strong advocate. As Minister of State, I want to ensure that common sense applies to any measure I am involved in. Under the legislation, however, these are matters for Uisce Éireann and the CRU. A dialogue commenced earlier in the year where submissions were invited on non-domestic charging for customers. People were able to feed into it and take these matters on board in the context of charging mechanisms going forward. While I appreciate the Senator's frustration on this, that is the process for resolving these matters.

In my experience I have come across redundant connections. If people have these, they should apply to have them removed because they obviously result in significant standing charges.