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The Government\u2019s new water charge may lead to individual meters, Sinn F\u00e9in has warned.<\/p>\nThe Government\u2019s new water charge may lead to individual meters, Sinn F\u00e9in has warned.<\/p>\n
Irish Water\u2019s proposal to introduce a \u20ac500 a year charge for excessive use of water was approved by the Commission for Regulation of Utilities (CRU) yesterday.<\/p>\n
Once excess usage is flagged, the commission says households will have 12 months to address any possible leaks and usage activity before they receive a bill.<\/p>\n
Sinn F\u00e9in housing spokesman Eoin O Broin said today that renters, pensioners and homeowners in badly built houses will be hit by the charges.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis charge has nothing to do with conservation and it\u2019s not going to deal with the issue of willful waste,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s going to end up punishing people who have leaks through no fault of their own, who don\u2019t have the means to rectify that \u2013 whether it\u2019s someone who bought a shoddily built home during the Celtic Tiger or older people with low pensions living in old properties around the country.<\/p>\n
\u201cMost tenants have agreements which makes them liable for certain charges, so if you\u2019re in an older property with a leak, there\u2019s no incentive for the landlord to do anything about the \u20ac500 fine.<\/p>\n
“The losers are going to be ordinary people.”<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s also going to cost more money to administer than it\u2019s going to raise, which begs the question why you would do it in the first place.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe reason Fine Gael and Fianna F\u00e1il have concocted this is because it leaves in place the infrastructure for possible future introduction of water charges.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sinn F\u00e9in suggests that instead of the charge, the Government along with Irish Water should have a greater focus on assisting people to address leaks within their own properties through district meters, not individual meters, similar to the process used in Scotland and Northern Ireland.<\/p>\n
Mr O Broin added: “Focus on addressing the leaks first, and after that if there are people unwilling to take up the assistance offered or willfully wasting water, then there is already legislation to fine those people.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe proposed this at committee, Fianna F\u00e1il were going to agree, but then Simon Coveney threatened a general election and Fianna F\u00e1il backed down.\u201d<\/p>\n
Water charges were to be introduced in Ireland in January 2015 to much uproar and mass protests, before the Government eventually suspended the proposal, setting up an \u201cexpert panel\u201d to find a solution to the issue.<\/p>\n
The threshold figure was set in legislation in December 2017 at 213,000 liters per year, 583 liters per day per household.<\/p>\n
Figures show the average water usage for a four-person household in Ireland is around 125,000 liters a year.<\/p>\n
According to the CRU, between 7% and 10% of domestic metered households use more than the annual allowance.<\/p>\n
Irish Water insists the charges are aimed at encouraging conservation.<\/p>\n
A survey conducted by Behaviors and Attitudes for Irish Water found 52% of people admit they waste water and 25% believe they do not need to conserve water because of the level of rainfall in Ireland.<\/p>\n
The supplier launched a conservation campaign on Wednesday encouraging people to be mindful of the amount of water they use because of the economic and environmental cost of providing safe, clean drinking water.<\/p>\n
Irish Water head of asset management Sean Laffey said: \u201cBad storms followed by the prolonged drought last year really showed people that safe, clean, treated water is not in unlimited supply and that we all have to play a part in conserving it.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is easy to lose focus on how precious water is. This is despite the fact that the financial and environmental impact of treating and providing drinking water does not decrease as rainfall increases.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are encouraging everyone to play their part and use only what they need.\u201d<\/p>\n