SINN FÉIN HAS called on Environment Minister Phil Hogan to make a full statement to the Dáil on Wednesday about the Government’s intentions to bill households for the installation of water meters.
The party’s spokesperson on the environment Brian Stanley said any attempts to pass the cost of the meters onto the consumer will be “fiercely resisted”.
The Department of the Environment confirmed today that the cost of service delivery will be shouldered by homeowners when metering is introduced next year.
However, a spokeswoman for the department said there is no estimate on how much this will be, stating the Sunday Times figure of €300 was “pure speculation”.
Commenting on the initial reports in the Sunday Times, Stanley said:
The news that the government wants to charge for the installation comes on top of mounting opposition to septic tank and household charges. The minister must have learned that people will accept any more stealth charges. The article is further evidence of the minister’s bad practice of government by spin and leak.
The Sinn Féin TD claimed that the story also undermines the report on reform of the water sector which is currently being drafted in the Dáil.
That report contains several recommendations on water metering and charges, he said, but the Sunday Times article reinforces the belief that the outcome is a forgone conclusion.
Minister Hogan must immediately clarify what is the government’s policy. He must take the first opportunity to come clean on this issue.
Speaking on This Week on RTÉ One, Tánaiste Eamon Gilmore said that no decision has been made on the arrangements for water meters, adding that the amount of money charged for installation has not been confirmed.
Fianna Fáil spokesperson for the environment Niall Collins told TheJournal.ie that the water meter installation charge will be just another instalment of “broken promises and deceit” from the current government.
He said the charge imposed will be part of its “new schedule of stealth and back door taxes on the country”.
Sinn Féin is opposed to the idea of charging for water but says it supports the upgrading of the water system.
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