Martin Ferris (Kerry North, Sinn Fein)
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Question 134: To ask the Minister for Education and Science if her attention has been drawn to the fact that EU Commissioner Stavros Dimas stated on 15 January 2008 that the Irish Government never sought a derogation on water charges for schools; if a derogation has since been requested; if not, the reason for same; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [6766/08]

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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As the Taoiseach has made clear on many occasions, the Government's priority in the negotiations on the EU Water Framework Directive was to get a specific derogation in relation to domestic water charges.

On 4th January 2008, details were announced by Government of the transitional arrangements which will apply for water charges for schools as part of the implementation of the EU Water Framework Directive. This statement reiterated the Government's 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.

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.