Donegal TDs Pádraig MacLochlainn and Pearse Doherty have said Sinn Féin will stand with communities to oppose any attempts to introduce the domestic water charges ‘by the back door’.
The Deputies were speaking after the Department of Housing yesterday said there are no plans “at this time” to introduce charges for excessive water use by households.
“Sinn Féin will continue to stand with communities in Donegal against any proposals that would unfairly burden households under the guise of water conservation,” Deputy MacLochlainn said.
“Donegal communities stood together to defeat water charges before and will do so again.
“If government goes down this road, their actual intention would be to introduce the principle of charging for domestic water services. This would be the first step in water charges being applied to all households.”
Deputy Doherty claimed that domestic water charges ‘do not reduce’ consumption.
“That is clear,” he said, “instead it causes water poverty, punishing those on low incomes unable to afford increasing charges.
“Many households that have above average water usage levels are not actually consuming more. Rather their homes are older or have building defects causing significant leakages.
“We know pensioners living in older properties and those living in defective block homes are particularly vulnerable if any form of charge is brought in.”
Deputy Doherty added that, if the government was serious about water conservation, it would be funding Uisce Éireann to accelerate their own leakage reduction programme which is the ‘single biggest cause’ of water loss in the domestic system.
“They would also have fully implemented the recommendations of the Future Funding of Water Services Report, which set out ambitious actions to improve water conservation,” he said.
“These included expanding the First Fix service provided by Uisce Éireann, developing a proactive cross Departmental strategy on conservation with a focus on education and awareness; retrofitting; stronger building standards and regulations for all new residential builds.
“The fact that this government hasn’t done any of this demonstrates that they are just not serious about water conservation.”
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