Water Charges
Seanad Éireann — 2025-12-17
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Timmy Dooley (FF), Clare

I thank the Senator again for her very insightful comments on the response provided by the Department. Of course, I will feed her thoughts and comments back. The Government does recognise the importance of community groups and not-for-profits and acknowledges the social good these organisations deliver every day in our towns, cities and rural areas. The Exchequer continues to provide funding to Uisce Éireann for domestic customers, and non-domestic customers are required to contribute towards the cost of providing their water services. The necessary reality is that delivering water services and investing in improving existing services is very costly.
I would make a point, however, that might be considered. The regulations are as they are. As the Senator identified, Irish Water is there and it has guidance from the CRU in terms of its recovery of the costs. In many cases, as the Senator said, these are entities receiving State support. It might be worth looking, as a Senator, at a Private Members' Bill to review the legislation and review the way in which water services are provided to community groups or charities generally and to put some work into that. I am sure the Department would engage with the Senator. Having had the pleasure of having spent a few years in here, I know how proposals can come forward. It might not be exactly as the Senator would wish it to be, but it is a way for her to engage in the drafting of a Private Members' Bill with the support of her colleagues and to tease out some of the facts. It is not going to happen for the entity in the Senator's area on this occasion, but it may be that over time the Senator's work would be able to feed into a change in approach. I just mention that as something worth looking at.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/seanad/2025-12-17/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:28+00:00
Sitting date: 2025-12-17