Roll-out of water meters under review

The installation of water meters is to be reviewed, following the planned suspension of water charges as part of the Fine Gael-Fianna Fáil deal on a minority government.

To date, approximately 820,000 of 1.05 million meters have been installed and it is claimed that metering has saved up to 32 million litres of water per day.

The controversial Irish Water metering programme, which led to major protests across the State, has cost more than €500 million so far.

The details are contained in abriefing document prepared for Simon Coveney, the new Minister for Housing, Planing and Local Government. The document, published last night, outlines the challenges faced because of the planned suspension of water charges.

The document also says early funding decisions will have to be made to ensure Irish Water remains on target to meet a number of goals. These include eliminating water contamination, lifting boil water notices, reducing leaks and ending the discharge of untreated water at 44 locations, while also increasing water and wastewater capacity, particularly in Dublin.

The State will have to make up the cost to Irish Water of suspending charges, which is estimated to be €115 million in 2017.

Water conservation

The net cost to the taxpayer for suspending the charges this year will be €11 million. This is because the €100 water conservation grant, paid by the Department of Social Protection, will also have to be suspended.

About €110 million was made available for the grant in 2016 but it was suspended following the Fianna Fáil-Fine Gael deal.

About 888,000 homes, out of a total of 1.3 million who are eligible, applied for and received the grant in 2015.

“Early decisions will be required in relation to the funding of Irish Water in the light of the proposed suspension of charges for nine months,” the document says.

It also says the European Commission is “concerned” about shortfalls in a number of areas around water, but not including charging, and has threatened to escalate “infringement proceedings”.

Irish Water had planned that the roll-out of water meters would continue until the end of this year but this is now being reassessed because of the deal to allow Fianna Fáil facilitate a Fine Gael-led government.

Some Fine Gael sources, in the wake of the deal with Fianna Fáil, said meter installation should continue pending the possible reintroduction of charges in the future. Fianna Fáil sources felt that charges had effectively been abolished.

Mr Coveney’s briefing document also deals with housing and says at least 25,000 new homes need to be built every year for the next 15 years to meet demand.

It argues that Government policy measures should focus on increasing housebuilding rather than on moves to increase demand from buyers in the absence of any construction activity.

“It is critically important that policy interventions remain focused on addressing the fundamental supply-side problems and that demand side-measures, which would further compound the existing difficulties, are avoided until such time as substantial progress has been made towards achieving a more balanced solution,” it says.

A decision in relation to how property tax will be distributed across councils in 2017 is also needed “as early as possible”, the document adds.