Local td calls for irish water to be shelved
The inefficiencies within Irish Water clearly demonstrate that the organisation is not fit for purpose and the public should not be made to foot the bill, according to local TD Denis Naughten as well as Councillors Domnick Connolly and Laurence Fallon who have called for Irish Water to be shelved.
“People should not be asked to pay for inefficiencies within the water system or waste within Irish Water,” stated Denis Naughten. “In a submission made to the Regulator in May I outlined that the timetable for the establishment of Irish Water was too tight and that has been shown to be the case. Irish Water has proven time and time again that it is not fit for purpose and we believe it should now be shelved.”
At this stage, one month after the introduction of water charges, we still have no clear mechanism for older people and people with a disability to obtain allowances. We cannot get straight forward answers to basic questions from Irish Water. There is still confusion on how group water schemes and rural homes are to be levied for water. And we have no idea if families are subsidising water production for major multi-nationals.
As a result the scheme of charges that has been introduced by Irish Water is neither fair nor transparent, with half of all water paid for being wasted. People are sick of paying for waste and they cannot be asked to foot the bill for either water wastage or Irish Water maladministration.
Denis Naughten added: “The issue of metering was first raised purely as a mechanism to stop waste and to conserve water but is fast just becoming a tax on water. In one particular case a leak that was reported to Irish Water took eight weeks to be repaired. And this repair only occurred after one engineer rang the person who reported the fault then said he couldn’t repair it as it was outside his area, another Irish Water employee came out to inspect the leak – without repairing it – before finally a third person attended and fixed the leak in less than a minute. With inefficiencies like that how can the public possibly be expected to pay for water?”
Cllr Domnick Connolly added: “Water is not a utility it is the essence of life and it is wrong to ask people to pay for it when there are clear inefficiencies within the water system, when water leaks are not being repaired in a timely manner and when bonuses are being paid before the first bill has issued or Irish Water is even seen to be operating efficiently.”
He also pointed out that unlike the smart meters installed in a number of other countries the meters currently being installed by Irish Water won’t allow homeowners to monitor daily usage with a view to conserving water.
Cllr. Laurence Fallon also queried issues surrounding the free allowances and whether the public will ultimately be left with the bill for these so-called “free allowances” also. “If in fact the taxpayer will be left with the €200m bill for the free allowances at the end of the year then it would appear that the public will be paying on the double for water,” he stated.
Cllr Fallon also pointed out that the rush to get Irish Water up and running by the politically driven deadline of January 1st 2014 has resulted in an organisation that is reminiscent of the flawed model used to establish the HSE. “Irish Water is a cobbled-together structure with weak foundations which is unaccountable to the public. Water is too important for this mess to be allowed to continue,” stated Cllr. Fallon. “Quite simply Irish Water is not working and the result is inefficiency, confusion, increased administrative costs and loss of public trust – all of which must be addressed before any household receives a bill for water.”
'We were promised at the last election that water metering was to be used as a tool to stop water wastage, after families had an adequate allowance to meet their daily needs. But this has not happened, instead it has now become another flat rate tax on families who are struggling to make ends meet and this is just not good enough.'