Council tenants will be pursued for any unpaid water bills by their local authority housing managers, under legislation being drawn up by Government.
A memo sent by the Department of the Environment to all local authority housing managers yesterday says they will be required "by law" to recover amounts owed to Irish Water by their tenants and to hand this on to the new utility.
This could involve rent increases which if left unpaid for extended periods can put a householder’s tenancy in jeopardy.
The memo says: “In the particular case of local authority tenants, where deposit arrangements do not apply, where a customer is in arrears for more than 12 months and a late payment fee has accrued, Irish Water, having first provided the customer with the opportunity to pay the arrears or enter into a payment plan, will advise the local authority concerned of the amount of arrears and the local authority will be required, by law, to recover the amount outstanding over a 12 month period, and remit the amount involved to Irish Water.”
There are about 132,000 local authority tenants in the State.
The move to make local authority housing managers effective debt collectors for Irish Water marks a complete shift from their position prior to the Government’s announcement of the new measures around Irish Water yesterday.
Early last month many local authorities said they would not intervene to ensure their tenants signed up with or paid their bills to Irish Water. Dublin City Council for example said: “The responsibility for registering and paying for water is a matter between Irish Water and their customers. Non-payment of water charges, therefore, does not put their tenancy in jeopardy.”
Later last month it emerged Irish Water had written to every local authority housing manager seeking the names and addresses of all their council tenants.
This latest development has been described as “deeply worrying” and “outrageous” by a number of councillors in the Dublin region.
South Dublin county councillor Eoin O Broin (Sinn Fein) said local authorities should not play any role in the relationship between their tenants and Irish Water.
“The number of local authority tenants in arrears is already very significant,” he said.
"Imposing this charge on them will push them further into poverty and into arrears. It will also damage the relationship between the Council and their tenants. Clearly Minister Alan Kelly wants local councils to do his Governments dirty work. This is totally unacceptable and will be resisted by Sinn Féin."
Dublin City councillor, Brid Smith (People Before Profit) also said the move would be opposed vigorously in local estates.
“This will be resisted. It is an outrageous charge being imposed by law on people in local authority housing estates who have the least to give. It will only deepen the determination of communities to revolt against it. There are already a lot of council tenants in arrears and forcing this charge on them will only push thousands more families deeper into poverty and distress.”
