David Cullinane (Waterford, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I know the history of this issue. It is a legacy issue from Irish Water which is a complete mess and fiasco. It is not the fault of those local authorities in Dublin or Waterford that there was a global re-evaluation which has seen a massive cut in their funding. The Tánaiste said the local authorities in question have been asked to engage with the Department. They have done so for a long period and have been told that they may get funding for one year but that is it. After that, they are on their own and have to make the cuts. If the Tánaiste was watching this, Dublin City Council has proposed an increase in toll charges and rents for social housing tenants, for those who can least afford it, as well as cutting services and increasing rates. The same is being proposed in Waterford.

Solutions are not being provided other than the Tánaiste telling local councillors to take the axe to cut services because of a mistake made by the Government. That is not good enough. All the promises made as a consequence of the property tax have been thrown back in councillors’ faces. Not only are they not getting additional services in those local authorities, they are now getting fewer services. It is not good enough. Compensation needs to be given fully to those local authorities to ensure householders and older people are not the ones who will have to pay the price for the Government’s incompetence and mess.

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