Ireland faces daily penalty of €5k if it scraps water levies

A law expert claimed Ireland could be hit with “daily” EU penalty fines of at least €5,000 if it chooses to scrap water charges, despite EU sources suggesting deferring the fee system could be allowed and Fianna Fáil insisting there is nothing illegal about cancelling the payments.

UCD law professor Gavin Barrett said Brussels could enforce the “recurring penalty” on the country after advice sought by Irish Water concluded there is no way to stop the fees system without breaking European law.

Independent legal advice sought by Irish Water and leaked to a national newspaper on Tuesday said despite ongoing post-election debate over the future of the fees system, if the next government scraps water charges Ireland would be in breach of specific EU rules.

The advice, from senior counsel Garrett Simons and Michael M Collins, said this is because Ireland cannot rely on a previous European water framework directive allowing some countries to avoid introducing a charging system if they do not have a ‘tradition’ of fees as the introduction of the charges in 2014 means a charges regime now exists.

Over the past 48 hours the comment has led to a furious debate among political parties, with Fine Gael insisting it shows charges cannot be scrapped, Fianna Fáil saying it remains committed to ending the existing system and ultimately replacing it with a fairer model and both Sinn Féin and the Anti Austerity Alliance-People Before Profit calling into question the accuracy of the legal advice.

EU officials have previously told the Irish Examiner that while Brussels holds the same legal view on scrapping the charges it may be open to deferring fees for a number of years.

However, speaking on RTE’s Morning Ireland programme, leading UCD law professor Gavin Barrett said the reality is if any government formation deal results in water charges being ended entirely Ireland will be hit with multi-million fines for breaking European water conservation law which would cost at least €5,000 a day.

“Ireland could be hit with a large fine and then a recurring daily penalty [if the fees system is scrapped]. The fine could be a minimum nominal amount of €1.5m and the daily penalty could be €5,000 per day minimum. Unfortunately for Ireland we got rid of our ‘no water charges policy’ in 2013 when Irish Water was set up. Legislation was introduced on water charges and there was wide-scale installation of water meters. There could be some wiggle room on the amounts charged. But getting rid of water charges is definitely not in compliance with EU law,” he said.

The comments come as opposition parties including the AAA-PBP prepare to put down a Dáil motion for Irish Water to be scrapped and fees to end.

However, they are understood to be reluctant to re-word the ruling to include the possibility of deferring fees instead for a number of years - an issue EU officials have previously told the Irish Examiner they may tolerate in a bid to give the next government breathing space.

Responding to the ongoing row, Right2Change spokesman and Unite official Brendan Ogle hit out at Irish Water for “wasting taxpayer money on getting a legal opinion and leaking it to justify its existence”.

Fianna Fáil’s Barry Cowen similarly said “it is entirely legal to end water charges” and described contrary positions as a “propaganda campaign”.

However, Fine Gael MEP Mairead Fitzgerald said the legal opinion, which Irish Water has refused to release as it is a private document, said charges are needed to encourage water conservation and how water service reforms are paid for over the coming years should be of paramount concern.