Séamus Healy (Tipperary South, Workers and Unemployed Action Group) | Oireachtas source

The proposals were announced by the Minister to the Dáil on 19 November. The position on charging for water is clear. Once we impose a charge for water then it will become a commodity and it will become marketable. Under EU law, full cost recovery will be required, perhaps not immediately but in the future. That is the direction in which we are going. If charges are introduced it will lead to significant costs on families. In effect, what we have is an introductory offer on charges. It is similar to a supermarket loss leader. We have the thin end of the wedge. It is like a sprat being thrown out to catch a salmon. The intention is to get the Government through the short to medium term and past the next general election. Once we start to charge for water then the costs to families will be significant.

We have been through the situation before. We know what will happen because of previous experience. The Government knows that as well. That is the reason it is introducing the charges at what would appear to be low levels. It knows that if it can introduce a policy of charging for water, no matter how low, that in future the charges will increase significantly.

It is worthwhile to recall what happened with refuse charges. I was a member of Clonmel Corporation when bin charges were introduced. The amount was £5 a year. I opposed the charge on the basis that it was the thin end of the wedge and that in the future families would be faced with bills for larger amounts. I was ridiculed by other members. One member went as far as to throw a box of matches across the table at me. He wanted to know what I was complaining about; that the charge was equivalent to the cost of a box of matches a week. What happened is that refuse charges in Clonmel and south Tipperary are now €300 a year, more than 30 times the introductory offer of £5 a year. The waiver scheme for bin charges that helped low and middle income families has been abolished and the service has been privatised. That is what will happen in future if the Bill is passed and if water charges are introduced. The 100,000 who were on the streets around the Dáil yesterday will not accept that. They will drive the Government back and get the charges abolished. If that does not happen, then ordinary families will be crucified by significant charges. We have no idea where it will end, but when one takes the analogy of refuse charges, it could be 30 times higher than what is being introduced. Thirty times 60 is €1,800, or one could multiply it by 160. The Minister can do the calculations himself.

From a practical point of view, even if the charges are introduced, thousands of families have water that is not fit for purpose. I previously referred to families in the Skeheenarinky and Burncourt areas who are not on boil water notices but whose water is undrinkable.

They do not meet the technical requirement for boil water notices but what comes out of the taps is completely undrinkable and unusable yet those people will be charged for water. There is no knowing how many thousands of families right around the country have hard water. I know the problem at first-hand because all the northern side of Clonmel, which means thousands upon thousands of families, has been supplied with hard water for the past number of years. The cost is already huge. Many householders have installed water softeners to remove lime out of the water and it could cost anything up to €2,000 to install those water softeners which must be flushed out with salt and serviced weekly and monthly. Electrical appliances such as electric kettles, dishwashers, washing machines, showers and shower heads in these houses are damaged by this hard water and must be replaced regularly. The water is completely unfit for purpose and we are proposing to charge them for that even though they are already paying to try to make the water in some way fit for purpose. This is unacceptable.

I refer to the question of the sewerage system. I am sure I am not the only Member to receive daily representations from householders whose sewers are blocked. Neither the local authority nor Irish Water will unblock those sewers. The householders are being forced to pay private contractors to unblock the sewers. In very many cases these sewers were laid by local authorities, in many cases, in local authority estates. The manholes are in the gardens of former or current local authority houses. Yet, Irish Water is refusing to unblock those sewers. These sewers may be servicing as many as nine or ten or 20 houses and up to 30 houses in one case. Recently in Clonmel the sewage flowed out on to the public road but Irish Water would not respond. In the past the local authority always serviced the sewers. The householders had to pay to have the blockages cleared. Better still, I currently have a case - one of many - where even though the blockage is not on the householder's property but is outside the gate on the public road, Irish Water will not clear that blockage. It insists that it is only responsible for the main sewer. Therefore, in the case I am currently dealing with, the blockage which originates under the public road but not in the main sewer has backed up into the householder's garden and he is supposed to clear that blockage himself at further cost. This is completely unacceptable and I would like the Minister to tell us what he proposes to do about it. This work was always carried out by the local authority and should continue to be done by the local authority or by Irish Water, but whoever does it, it should be done at no cost to the householder.

I oppose this section on the basis that this is the introduction of charges, the thin end of the wedge. People are already paying for water through general taxation. If this charge is brought in, there will be significant charges for families down the road.

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