The disagreement between the Coalition parties over the details of the water charges looks more like a sudden squall than a full-blown storm capable of doing real damage.

While there was a high degree of irritation between Fine Gael and Labour Ministers yesterday over the issue, there does not appear to be an unbridgeable gap.

The core of the problem was that Labour Ministers took exception to what they regarded as an attempt by Fine Gael to jump the gun and publicly disclose details of the charges before they had been signed off on by the Cabinet.

On the Fine Gael side, there was a suspicion that Labour was trying to delay a decision so that it would not become a factor in the local elections in a little over a month’s time.

The publication of water charges in yesterday’s newspapers showing average annual fees of about €240 per household sparked an angry reaction from Labour, as the Cabinet was due to discuss the issue yesterday morning.

'Bulldozed' into decision
Party sources told journalists they felt they were being "bulldozed" into a decision by Fine Gael and they resented the way in which the details of the memo to Cabinet from Minister for the Environment Phil Hogan had been leaked.

There were robust exchanges when the Cabinet met and Ministers decided to “note” the memo, but a final decision was adjourned for two weeks pending further discussion.

A Labour spokeswoman said last night nothing had been decided and negotiations were ongoing: “We were not satisfied with the answers we were given today.”

By contrast, Fine Gael sources stressed the €240 figure had been put into the public domain: “We have kept our promise to tell the public what the charge is going to be before the local elections and that is the main thing . . .”

The mystery, though, is why the issue degenerated into a public row yesterday given the proposed charge was discussed in depth in recent weeks at the Economic Management Council involving both parties. While there are differences about categories of people to be exempt, there is no great dispute on the issue that a charge has to be levied under the troika deal.

Charge agreement
Neither is there any big difference between the parties about the scale of the charge at about €240 a year, although Labour Ministers worry that, of necessity, 75 per cent of households will be paying an assessed charge rather than a metered one at first.

Taoiseach Enda Kenny, responding to pressure from the Opposition yesterday, pointed out that to retain its status as a commercial semi-State company, the subvention from the taxpayer to Irish Water could not exceed €537 million next year or the year after. This equated to an annual average metered charge of €240.

Whatever happens, it appears that an average charge of about €240 is inevitable.

Ironically, the Labour Party in its final election advertisement blitz in the 2011 general election claimed Fine Gael would introduce an annual water charge of €238 a year.

Mr Kenny was not slow to point out in the Dáil yesterday, in the face of criticism from Micheál Martin, that the last Fianna Fáil government had planned to introduce water charges of €400 in 2012.

Whatever agreement is hammered out between the Coalition parties, water will be an issue in the local elections.