UP TO 2,000 construction-based jobs will be created over three years to install more than a million water meters, Minister for the Environment Phil Hogan has claimed.
Mr Hogan also said that the level of employment would be sustained after the metering programme has been completed, thanks to continuing capital investment in water services. He claimed it could be “potentially €600 million per annum”.
The Minister was speaking after announcing a public consultation on the reforms of the water sector. It will be based on a 22-page report on the options, commissioned by Mr Hogan.
“Jobs are at the core of this Government’s plan and the water reform programme will form a key element of our job creation strategy,” he said.
The planned new water utility company, Irish Water, will take over the water supply provision from the 34 local authorities within the term of the Coalition. It is a key plank of the NewERA plan, the Government’s ambitious infrastructure, utility and jobs policy.
According to the report, water services in the State cost more than €1.2 billion in 2010. Ireland, it continued, is the only state in the OECD where households do not pay directly for water use.
In a recent report on Ireland, the OECD stated: “The absence of household water charges impedes the development of an economically, environmentally and socially efficient water services sector”.
The programme for government promised that each household will get a free water allowance and will only pay once that allowance has been used.
The report, however, has said that no decision has been taken on the level of allowance and has also expressed a preference for an allowance per household, rather than per individual.
It has acknowledged that this will have an impact on larger households but states that basing the allowance on occupancy would be difficult and prone to fraud.
It has also estimated that 1.05 million households out of 1.35 million should be metered. The others would be difficult or too expensive to meter.
These are buildings with shared connections, apartment buildings and gated communities. These household should have charges levied on a fixed basis, the report stated.
The Campaign Against Household and Water Taxes claimed that the combined household and water charges could cost householders up to €1,000 per annum. It also challenged the contention that it would create thousands of new jobs. “Water taxes will take money out of people’s pockets and further deflate the economy, costing jobs,” claimed Mick Barry, a Socialist Party councillor.
