Water fiasco shameful in this centenary year

Margaret Hickey argues that as usual politicians are putting their party before the country in the rush to scrap water charges that would be among the cheapest anywhere in Europe

IN THIS year of celebration of nationhood, it is both ironic and shameful that the freedom to govern ourselves ,won at such a cost, should be so lightly regarded by those to whom the people have entrusted power, following February’s election.

The power as well as the responsibility to form a government rests with elected representatives. The people neither get it right nor wrong. They vote as they always do for a multiplicity of reasons. Some voters are well informed, others not at all.

They vote to help shape the next government according to their individual preferences, be they whimsical or weighty. What happens afterwards depends on how everyone else has voted.

Then it is over to the newly elected parliamentarians, especially those of larger parties, to forge the alliances that will produce a stable administration that reflects, however imperfectly, the will of the people.

It is the democracy for which blood was shed. Not a perfect system, just the best there is. How ironic that what was won with blood is now being reduced to pointless, populist squabbling over water.

Fianna Fáil, in particular, stand apart in their opportunistic obduracy. Safe water is not a gift from heaven, a national birthright, as leftist politicians insist.

You can indeed lay claim to all the water that falls into your troughs, buckets, barrels, and butties. But pumps, pipes and treatment plants do not fall from the sky. Fianna Fáil should take a responsible position in the matter and support the legislation introduced by Fine Gael and Labour in the last administration rather than ditching in with political players whose radical populism has never been tested with the responsibility of political power.

FG TDs disagree on whether to reimburse water charges to those who paid https://t.co/F42Tqk5p6R pic.twitter.com/D8KmXJXkHb

— Irish Examiner (@irishexaminer) May 1, 2016

Attempts to justify their position by leveling charges of bloated bureaucracy at Irish Water are a bit rich coming from a party that surrounded itself by self-aggrandising quangos. A culture that Fine Gael, it must be said, were quite happy to take on board.

Despite pledging to abolish quangos in the 2011 election campaign, they have dismally failed to do so. In fact they have added a few of their own including of course Irish Water.

Why would anyone expect Irish Water to be an exception to the established way of doing things? At least, they are providing a tangible and necessary service upon which the health and convenience of every family in the country depends, which is more than can be said for the majority of quangos.

Fianna Fáil should know better. Every country in the EU has water charges under an EU directive. They themselves, when last in power, initiated legislation that would have cost more than current charges.

In fact, water charges here are the cheapest in Europe, followed by Bulgaria, a country with a very low cost of living. Water supply and water quality are top of the worldwide ecological and agenda. It has to be paid for and for the sake of conservation the best way of paying is to, in one way or another, link charges to usage. The 30,000-litre cap on charges per household, topped up with 21,000-litre allowance per child under 17 is generous. A typical bill for a two-person adult household is €260 annually. Compare with the annual TV licence of €160 which you are obliged to pay, whether or not you view the national channels, it seems like very good value indeed.

The Green Party pointed out, prior to the general election, that 50% of water pumped into the system is lost through leaks and that there is still raw sewage discharged from 44 urban centres.

The installation of meters has enabled the water authority to locate and deal with such leaks. We get constant reminders of how broken and obsolete and downright hazardous our water system still is whenever boiling notices are served by local authorities.

Over hot summers we have all experienced recurring water stoppages around the country. Sometimes, there is no water to fill a kettle in the morning, depending on how elevated the site of your house is.

The problem can be blamed on infrastructure but also on the early riser with the water hose who has doused his roses or his car with abandon. He or she would most likely not be so particular if the cents were flowing with the water.

The Green Party, however, has become somewhat guarded on the issue. According to Eamon Ryan, “most people use water responsibly”. Surely not as responsibly as they would if they were charged for it.

If most people were responsible with plastic bags, we would not have needed a supermarket bag levy either, something vigorously and rightly promoted by John Gormley back in 2002 and which has massively reduced their usage.

'Reimburse everybody's water charges immediately' - Paul Murphy https://t.co/WSf7QJP2ty pic.twitter.com/qImcfcUVTP

— Irish Examiner (@irishexaminer) May 1, 2016

It is not, it must be said, that the Greens have changed their stance on water charges but they have become somewhat a skittish on the issue, citing the need for public investment and “generous” allowances and calling for a referendum to vest the ownership of water as a national resource in the people of Ireland.

A more nonsensical reason for a referendum would be hard to dream up. Populist, costly, and diversionary.

The State ultimately controls and regulates the system and few have any problem with that.

It is paying for it that is causing the angst along with the established belief that for a new formed quango, water is the new gravy train.

With two seats in the new Dail, the Greens cannot be blamed for the current impasse.

It is Fianna Fail, too busy settling scores, old and new, with the old enemy who deserve to be water under the bridge if another election is forced.

Even if they prop up a minority Fine Gael administration for a while, cat and mouse style, for tactical reasons, they deserve no better.

Putting party before country is shameful anytime but at this time of centenary celebration it is more than shameful, it is shameless.

However, it does take two to play out the game.

Fianna Fail have tabled a killer hand in the high stakes game of political power and Fine Gael in their desperation to hold power have, it appears, decided to “see” them and finesse away principle and common sense in the desire to scoop the prize.

In a few more years, we will have reached the centenary of the Civil War and the divisions that produced both Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael.

What a tribute to the maturity of our politicians and what a gesture to those who secured our independence if, by then, their descendants could have shown that as a country we have grown up to the point where we can make common cause when the national interest requires it.