Alan Kelly (Tipperary North, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I am bringing forward important changes to the Waste Management Act to reform comprehensively our system of household waste collection. Government waste policy is articulated in A Resource Opportunity - Waste Management Policy in Ireland. This sets out a number of commitments in relation to reforming the regulation of household waste collection in Ireland, including requiring improved environmental and customer service standards to be adhered to by collectors and encouraging more responsible behaviour by households.

The new proposals to give legislative effect to these commitments in the policy have been subject to a consultation process which closed in early 2014. The consultation paper set out a clear proposal to move the household waste collection sector to a per kilogramme price per weight charging system, in line with the commitment in A Resource Opportunity.

The new framework for household waste collection system provided for in these amendments is intended to meet the following policy objectives. The framework will respect the waste hierarchy and the polluter-pays principle; it will provide clear incentives and obligations for households and collectors; it will give more teeth to regulatory bodies such as the national waste collection permit office to tackle poor performance and below cost selling by waste collectors; it will simplify pricing structures and enable customers to compare the cost of different household waste collection services more easily; and it will provide an effective means of enforcing those obligations. These changes will further drive improvements in standards of customer service and environmental protection in the household waste collection industry and serve as a precursor to future wider reform of waste collection generally as Ireland continues to meet its targets under EU legislation and positions itself to benefit from the new circular economy package, to be published later this year by the European Commission.

The amendments I am proposing today in relation to domestic water charges support statements that the Government has made over the past eight months about providing a domestic water charges system that is simple, certain, affordable and encourages conservation. The public deserve a reliable, secure supply of drinking water and satisfactory levels of waste water treatment. Central to this major reform programme is having a water charging system in which unpaid charges are pursued fairly and justly.

Last November, I announced changes that simplified the domestic tariff structure. I stated quite categorically that I would be insisting on making a distinction between those who are willing to pay but cannot pay, as opposed to those who just refuse to pay. Those who want to pay but are in financial difficulty will have the potential to avail of easy-pay options, instalment plans and to enter pay agreements, just like any other utility. Irish Water has put these measures in place and they are being availed of. Those who do not register and do not pay will not be able to avail of the water conservation grant and will be pursued by Irish Water. It would not be a fair situation where the compliant population pay water charges to fund water services for those who can pay but are not willing to pay. It would also place the burden of the cost of upgrading and improving a deficient water system onto the next generation.

Key among these measures was the introduction of capped charges that would see a single adult household face a maximum charge for water services of €160 per year from Irish Water. A household with two or more adults would face a maximum charge of €260 per annum. In tandem with these measures the Government also announced that measures would be introduced to address the non-payment of water charges. Irish Water customers who have unpaid arrears in respect of water charges of at least the annual capped charge and who have not entered into a payment plan would attract an automatic late payment penalty of €30 for a one-adult household or €60 for all other households for each year that the charges remain unpaid. Further measures were also announced to strengthen the payment of water charges by both owner-occupiers and tenants.

The Water Services Act 2014 was passed by the Houses of the Oireachtas last December. The Act included all of the measures relating to the capped charges, the introduction of the conservation grant, the introduction of the late payment fees and several customer protection measures. However, additional consideration was required to address the measures announced by the Government to enforce the payment and collection of water charges and it was indicated that these measures would be introduced at a later stage.

The Government reiterated its commitment in May to legislate in these areas, principally, regarding liability for domestic water charges and the process of registering with Irish Water and in particular, clarifying the registration process in respect of landlord-tenant relationships. Today, I am fulfilling these commitments through the amendments proposed to water legislation. Measures announced in May to place a requirement on a landlord to retain a tenant deposit until the tenant provides evidence that he or she has paid their water charges, will be brought forward soon in a forthcoming Bill.

However, I take this occasion to warn people to be careful about propaganda they will be likely to hear from the Opposition which will undoubtedly be spinning mistruths with scare-mongering stories about evictions of tenants. I will respond by outlining two key facts. First, there will be absolutely no change to tenancy protections under these provisions. In fact, the Government will be strengthening these shortly. The measures outlined here will put water bills on the exact same legal footing as other utilities such as gas and electricity. Payment of utilities is already a standard part of letting agreements, something that the Opposition has elected to ignore because it did not fit in their narrow narrative of chaos, victimhood and feigned anger. Indeed, Syriza, the political heroes of the hard left in Ireland, seem intent on forcing the Greek people to pay for their consumption of water on a full-usage basis and at a higher cost than the people of Ireland. Let us not indulge in too much hypocrisy.

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