Government needs water levy cash flowing in

The way that Government approached the introduction of water charges clearly points to an administration intent on reaching even deeper into our pockets and mopping up whatever money it can to sustain itself as it seeks re-election in 2016.

Like all of its ventures into new charges and taxes, these charges will hurt most those already in financial trouble.

It’s a case of kicking the citizen when he is down before rifling his pockets.

So what was the genesis of this new charge, and why the unseemly haste to get it up and running?

We are led to believe that these charges had to be introduced at the behest of the troika.

Apparently we were one of the few countries in Europe without a water charge and that had to change in the interest of fairness — fairness to whom?

So much for Richard Bruton and his Marie Antoinette — or was it Ballygowan — moment.

Funny, but most of us thought, in fact we were convinced, that we were paying water charges in general taxation. If the rest of Europe stuck its proverbial hand in the fire, should we do the same?

It is also peculiar that the only EU requirements that must be imposed on us seem to be bad for our pocket books. There seems to be no personal upside.

Next, we have to set up a quango, Irish Water, to manage the sector. So we populate the top layers of this body with former and retired public servants with a smattering of private sector supporters to make it look fresh and fit for purpose.

Of course, we get to spend €85m and then some to get it up and running. Not only that, but 4,000 local authority water sector employees will be transferred over to this new entity. So far it sounds a lot like the rationalisation that occurred after the amalgamation of the health boards into the HSE.

Now, you would expect with all this supposed preparation, everybody would be metered before the bills started rolling in. However, that is not the case.

Clearly the Government needs the money. Why else would it bring in the charges before it was ready?

So, it sets a standard rate for those not metered which will be adjusted at a future date. What’s the betting that getting a brass farthing back will be like finding hen’s hind teeth?

Pre the local elections, government politicians insisted that reasonably low values of water charges would be levied, presumably in the hope that it would garner a few votes.

The estimate for the average user would be €240 per household per annum. To many even that amount, spread over a year, would be the straw that would break the camel’s back.

Government is now claiming it will be €278 for the average user. However, the average user would appear to be a very difficult example to define or even to find. Even for a so-called average family the charge will be heading for €500.

The ‘free’ allowance for children will only be 21,000 litres per annum and not the 38,000 litres that had been repeatedly advised prior to the election. It appears that Irish Water claimed to CER, the body that determined the charges, that the 38,000 litres was erroneous based on an analysis of what now appears to be a limited, sample of the users who have been metered to date.

However, 21,000 litres is only enough for one flush per day and a quick shower.

Irish Water claims that it was a representative sample. They would, wouldn’t they? Others, including the ESRI, are not quite so sure. The question is: did the CER do its job properly or has it behaved like other regulators in the last decade? That is, did it simply accept the word of the organisation with the vested interest?

It all looks like the purpose is to get the cash in asap so that a pretence can be made at reducing some taxes or giving some leeway before 2016.