Mary O'Rourke (Longford-Westmeath, Fianna Fail)
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Question 500: To ask the Minister for Education and Science the arrangements for water payments for primary schools and secondary level schools. [4962/08]

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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On 4th January 2008, details were announced by Government of the transitional arrangements which will apply for schools water services as part of the implementation of the EU Water Framework Directive. This statement reiterated the Governments commitment to full implementation of the Directive, which has as its objective the promotion of water conservation and the efficient use of water as an important and scarce natural resource.

The legal advice available to the Government is that under the EU Framework Directive all non-domestic users must pay for water used. Schools, like other non-domestic water services users, must pay water charges. This advice also confirms that schools will be required to pay the full cost of water services used on a metered basis with effect from 1st January 2010. The Directive also requires that measures are put in place up to 2010 to move towards full cost recovery.

For the transition period the Government agreed that non-fee paying recognised schools will pay a flat rate per pupil fee as follows: 2007 — €3 per pupil, 2008 — €3.50 per pupil and 2009 — €4 per pupil enrolled. For 2007, charges applied based on metering will be recalculated on the transitional flat rate with a credit given for any excess payment. The Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government will advise local authorities of the detailed arrangements which will be put in place to implement this decision. These new arrangements afford schools the opportunity to put in place the necessary water conservation arrangements and practices and undertake necessary works to ensure that when full water charges are introduced in two years time schools will have significantly reduced their water usage and, by virtue of good water conservation, be in a much stronger position to meet their water charges. Those schools with very high water consumption will be identified and contacted with a view to introducing measures to help them reduce water usage.

An information package is currently being prepared for schools on the most appropriate measures to minimise excess consumption of water and to reduce wastage where it exists. As part of this exercise, technical guidance and specifications for the most common problems that are likely to arise in this area will be provided. In addition, water conservation issues will continue to be addressed by my Department as a matter of routine where new schools are being built or where major renovations are being carried out to existing schools under the schools modernisation programme.