Updated: 12.07
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The issue of water charges is dominating headlines again this morning.
Today the Cabinet is expected to discuss legislation that would allow water charges to be deducted from people’s wages or social welfare payments.
Under the new law, the threat of jail for non-payment of general debt bills, including those from Irish Water, will be removed. The proposals are based on recommendations made by a Law Reform Commission report in 2010, which advised attachment orders be applied to earnings.
The departments of justice and the environment have been working on the legislation. Separately, Alan Kelly’s department is looking into the issue of tenants who refuse to pay Irish Water bills.
The charges are €160 per year for a single-adult household and €260 for houses with more than one adult. Households are eligible for a conservation grant of €100 from the department of social protection.
A minimum threshold is expected to apply to social welfare payments so large amounts cannot be taken out. The government has always said it will distinguish between those who can’t pay and those who won’t pay.
Penalties for non-payment will not apply until next summer – after the general election.
Sinn Féin’s finance spokesperson Pearse Doherty told Morning Ireland removing the threat of jail is the right decision, however he said the government would be “silly” to think the move will “get rid of the huge public anger” about water charges.
In a statement released this morning, Independent TD Mattie McGrath said the government is likely “pre-emptively moving to avoid the political nightmare of having to jail struggling debtors, thereby confirming its image as debt collectors for the European banks and bondholders”.
Speaking on his way into the Cabinet meeting, Public Expenditure Minister Brendan Howlin said the new law was “a good idea”.
I think we’re all concerned about people going to jail for two hours for not paying their TV licence and so on. For general debt – whether it’s for the local plumber or the local electrician who can’t collect his debt – there should be some provision that that can be collected, and water obviously falls into that category.
Fianna Fáil’s justice spokesperson Niall Collins weighed in on the issue this afternoon, saying it was “a very cynical move by the government”.
“Effectively it’s a manoeuvre to shore up Irish Water,” Collins said, adding that it was “a step too far” to take the charge from people’s social welfare payments.
When you consider that a social welfare payment is the safety net which people have to live on and exist on when they fall on hard times or when they’re out of work, you can’t have a situation that because of inability to pay that the State is going to go after their very meagre social welfare payment.
Collins added that Fianna Fáil does not encourage people to break the law by not paying the charge.
With the anti-water charge movement saying tens of thousands of people will boycott their bills, it will be interesting to see what effect the new measures may have on registration and payment.
The Cabinet is due to reconvene this evening to discuss the proposals.
Right-to-die campaigner Tom Curran told us several TDs and Senators are willing to break party ranks to support his bill on assisted suicide.
The legislation is expected to be debated in the coming weeks.
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