Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour) | Oireachtas source

In our programme for Government, we indicated that charging for water would be based on usage after a free household allowance was applied and measured on a metering system, which would have the advantage of enabling people to conserve water and thereby reduce their household bill. Work has been ongoing on this scheme and, as the Taoiseach confirmed yesterday, the Central Statistics Office has calculated a figure of €240 as the average annual charge which would be required to keep water off balance sheet.

There is still a number of issues that need to be addressed. I wish they had been addressed some months ago, but they remain to be done. First, there is the question of metering. The best estimate is that the number of households that will be metered by the end of the year is some 400,000. This means that approximately three out of every four households would not be metered by the time the charge is introduced. That raises the question of how those householders will be charged. Several questions have yet to be addressed in this regard. The first is whether the pace of metering can be accelerated to increase the number of households that are metered. The second is whether some type of rebating arrangement can be introduced as households are metered after the charge is introduced. These are questions that need to be addressed and concluded.

The second issue that needs to be addressed is the question of ability to pay. The figure of €240 the Central Statistics Office has come up with is less than what was being proposed earlier in the year and certainly less than some of the very exaggerated figures that have been in the public domain in the meantime. Likewise, it certainly is less than the €400 charge Fianna Fáil would have introduced from an earlier stage. Nevertheless, it is still a very large bill for any household that is having difficulty paying it. I am thinking particularly of older people, pensioners and people on low incomes. Therefore, it will be necessary to have an ability to pay provision or measures which address the issue of ability to pay before we settle and agree on what the charge will be and how the regime will work. I want to see these decisions made quickly because I want there to be certainty and answers provided for people. It is important that we get the decision right and address the question adequately and satisfactorily of how households that will not be metered by the end of the year will be treated and, in particular, how the issue of ability to pay will be addressed for people who are in difficult financial circumstances.

See this speech in context