Yesterday Deputy Hayes raised the issue of charges on schools for the use of water. This is a problem that has reached ridiculous proportions. On the one hand, one agency of the State, the Department of Education and Science, is paying money to schools while on the other hand, local authorities levy charges on them for water. One school in County Sligo is charged €7,000, a school in County Galway is charged €8,000, a school in County Louth is charged €2,500 and this is expected to rise to €8,000 next year. This shows there is no joined-up thinking on the use of water in schools. Parents of schoolchildren are currently making arrangements for charity walks, auctions, Christmas sales and golf outings as they are now expected to pay for the use of water in schools. This is a very real problem. I assume that when the charges are levied by the local authorities on schools, the Government, as part of that circle, will reduce the amount of money paid to local authorities. This situation is visible evidence of a complete lack of joined-up thinking by Government. The parents of the children are now being forced to organise extra-curricular activities to raise money to pay for water in schools when the Department of Education and Science pays grants to the schools and the local authorities extract this money.

The Minister for Education and Science, in response to a question from Deputy Hayes yesterday, was completely helpless and threw her hands up in despair. It is not usual for the Minister for happiness to be this way——

She is like Manuel.

——and when she said in the beginning that what she wanted was happy parents, happy teachers and happy pupils——

A happy school is a good school.

They are not happy now.

This is not a happy, clappy situation where schools will be on the dry by virtue of the fact that the Government has displayed a complete lack of joined-up thinking.

What does the Taoiseach propose to do? The Department of Education and Science will screw the schools by virtue of the fact there is no system to provide for usage of water in schools and where parents will be forced to pay for it.

Deputy Kenny knows the background. The EU water framework directive dates back almost ten years to 1999——

We do not know what it says.

Allow the Taoiseach without interruption.

The Deputy is not the leader yet.

At that stage all the submissions for derogation were put forward. From this country's point of view the big issue in those negotiations on the directive a decade ago was to achieve derogation for domestic water rates for residential use and we achieved that after a significant debate and battle. We did not achieve derogation in other areas, schools being one of those areas and therefore the EU water framework directive 1999 is being implemented.

School capitation grants have been increased over several years. The directive is based on methods of water conservation with which we are all in agreement. The programme for installing water meters in schools has commenced and it will take some time as there are more than 4,000 schools in the country. There is a need to achieve some kind of agreement on standards between the local authorities and the Departments of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government and of Education and Science.

This is the implementation of the EU water framework directive. Metering will help but the framework directive is based on conservation of water and therefore is based on use. This is the law we signed up to in 1999.

Can the Taoiseach do anything about it?

No.

They could be given more money.

I reminded the Taoiseach yesterday of his selective amnesia about persons who addressed the joint Houses of Congress in the United States. The Minister for Foreign Affairs forgot he received an increase of €10,000 in the past two years. I listened to the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government on the radio this morning who seems to have forgotten that he is in Bali to save the world and to discuss climate change and instead has commented on social partnership.

The Government forgets. For instance, the programme for Government, on which the Taoiseach was elected, states clearly that the Government will examine the provision of waste and water allowances to schools, with charges becoming effective after these agreed allowances are exceeded.

The Minister for Education and Science yesterday threw her hands up in despair and said to Deputy Hayes, "I can do nothing about this".

She threw cold water on it.

I am now expected to leave this to the thousands of parents around the country who are being forced out to do all these charity gigs, golf outings, raffles and sponsored walks, to raise money to pay to the local authorities for water used in the schools where their children attend. This is a very real problem and the Minister for Education and Science has failed utterly to do anything about it, despite the fact that the programme for Government states the Government will examine the provision of waste and water allowances to schools, with charges becoming effective after these agreed allowances are exceeded.

The Taoiseach will be aware that when a business refuses to pay water charges, the local authority will cut it off. Will the situation arise where the school in County Galway now being charged €8,000, the school in County Louth which will be charged €10,000, the school in County Cork being charged €7,500, will all have their water supply cut off next year? Is this a situation the Government will tolerate and which the Minister for Education and Science — who has failed utterly in this matter — will also have to put up with? I bet she will not visit one of those schools on a Friday morning and appear in the middle of all the pupils and say, "We are all on the dry here".

I have been on the dry all my life.

There is no joined-up thinking between the Department of Education and Science and the local authorities. I want to know what will happen before these schools are presented with very substantial bills. In a school of 100 pupils, the capitation grant is €17,500. The amount required to run that school is at least double that figure. I spoke yesterday to Councillor O'Connor who has a 500-pupil school in Glasthule which is well known to Deputy Gilmore. The capitation grants paid by the Government are completely inadequate to deal with the running of the school.

What action does the Government propose to take to honour its proposal in its programme for Government which stated that the Government would look at these water allowances for schools, look for a waiver and after a certain time apply a charge? Please tell us now and save hundreds of thousands of parents much anxiety about this matter.

Hear, hear.

At the risk of repeating myself, I have to make three points. First, this is part of the EU Water Framework Directive which is now law. It was negotiated back in 1999 and was introduced in 2000. We argued against it at the time and succeeded in getting a derogation so that the hundreds of thousands——

How are they going to pay for it?

How will schools pay for it?

The Taoiseach should be allowed to speak without interruption.

Is it all right if I answer the question, please?

That would be a first.

The Taoiseach must be allowed to answer the question.

It is part of the EU Water Framework Directive, which is law. At the time we argued that the 1.4 million houses in the country, in which the parents of all these children live, should not pay domestic water rates——

Will we get it in schools?

We got a derogation for that, but we did not get a derogation for schools.

Did you ask for one?

We have improved the capitation rate. It is now more than €100,000 for a school of 300 pupils. For a post-primary school of 500 it is €270,000.

It is still not enough at post-primary level.

The Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government and the Department of Education and Science have been working together to see what they can do on the conservation matter.

It is a bit late.

To its credit, Gorey community school saved 24,000 litres of water using conservation methods.

It is the biggest school in the country.

I hope the House is in favour of water conservation. I hope the House would not only support us putting billions into improving our water quality standards but would also be in favour of conservation measures. Dublin City Council has already sent out conservation packs to schools——

That will be a big help when the bills come in.

——to try to get people to work together to improve the rate of water conservation because if schools follow good practice, that will keep down water charges. We should all be trying to conserve water.

Will you give them a dig-out?

It is law and now we should be trying to improve on that, as good environmental practice and standards dictate.

What about the programme for Government?

That is a big help.

The pensions will be very watertight.