MICHAEL O’REGAN The Government is “trying to take some of the heat” out of the issue of water charges in its proposal to suspend water charges for nine months and establish a commission to deal with the issue, the Dáil has heard.

Minister for Local Government Simon Coveney said there should be time allowed for a proper discussion on the issue. The commission would have the input of experts from Ireland and internationally.

The Oireachtas committee the commission would report to “won’t be bound by its decisions but will hopefully be guided by” its recommendations, he said on the opening night of debate on the Sinn Féin Private Members’ motion calling for the abolition of water charges and Irish Water.

“People deserve that time window before we make a decision on the issue,” he insisted.

“Let the debate be rational, reasoned and respectful,” he added, pledging to ensure water services remained in public ownership.

Leakage

He said the 835,000 water meters installed by Irish Water had identified customer-side leakage and by the end of February this year “39.5 million litres of water per day had been saved through this scheme and domestic customers’ repairs arising from leakage detection through metering”.

He said the entire water needs of Co Wicklow in one day is 34 million litres. “It makes far more sense to save existing water than to build new plants without addressing leakage on both the public mains and customer sides.”

During the debate Minister of State Finian McGrath, who had not paid his water charges but indicated his plan to do so, said he supported the process planned by the Government on the suspension or “getting rid of water charges” for nine months and “that’s the vote that counts”.

He was sceptical of the manner in which Irish Water was established and of the lack of insight about people’s everyday financial struggles and he did not like the Irish Water set up of the system of charges.

Sinn Féin TD Eoin Ó Broin moved his party’s motion to immediately abolish domestic water charges, establish a public water and sanitation board to deliver water on the basis of need and set a date of a constitutional referendum enshrining its public ownership.

Social movements

Mr Ó Broin said the Right to Water movement had been one of the most important social movements in recent history. It had mobilised hundreds of thousands of people in national and local demonstrations as part of a massive objection to what people rightly believed was an unjust and unfair tax.

A large number of deputies elected to the House, he said, had signed up to the Right to Water policy principles in advance of the election. Mr Ó Broin said the motion was drafted on behalf of the movement which many TDs belonged to.

The Fianna Fáil amendment to the motion was moved by party environment spokesman Barry Cowen.

It called on the Government to bring forward legislation to suspend water charges from July 1st for an initial period of nine months. Mr Cowen accused Labour TD and former minister for the environment Alan Kelly of attempting to grab headlines in a Dáil speech when he accused Fianna Fail of environmental treason.

“His claims smack of nothing short of financial illiteracy,’’ Mr Cowen added.“The State is losing money from water charges, at least €22 million last year.”