Fine Gael pushed to publish water levy legal advice

Fianna Fáil has called on the Government to publish its legal advice on the water charges report before the Oireachtas committee examining the issue meets today to finalise its recommendations.

Amid mounting tensions over the issue which have brought the Government’s confidence and supply agreement to the brink, Fianna Fáil finance spokesman Michael McGrath said yesterday that the Government seems to be speaking in “general terms” about the legal issues it says it has with the committee’s draft report.

“They (the Government) seem to be speaking in generalities that the report is illegal. They seem to be indicating that they already have such legal advice,” he said.

“We haven’t seen any advice from the attorney general on what is an emerging draft report, and if they have it, now is the time to put it on the table so that any concerns can be dealt with.

“Let’s get down to the nitty gritty and deal with exactly what the AG has an issue, if indeed she has seen the draft report, which I very much doubt, to be honest.”

Speaking at an Irish Water event in Cork yesterday, Housing Minister Simon Coveney insisted again that the committee’s draft report is not legally sound and that Fine Gael can’t support it in its current form.

“They (the committee) have their own legal advice and it’s my understanding that they will be getting legal advice on the report as it currently stands and it will be a matter for the committee to make decisions on the back of that,” he said.

“Once the report is finalised and sent to the Oireachtas and voted on, then I will send it to the AG for very detailed legal scrutiny and we will put a piece of legislation together that I hope reflects the main ground of political opinion in relation to how we move on, but it has to legally sound.

“I don’t know how many times I have to say it — I have been consistent for months now.

“Yes, I want to reflect a consensus of political opinion to ensure we can move on from water, but more importantly, I have to do what’s right by the country and I am not going to pass legislation or introduce policy that is going to expose Ireland to tens of millions of fines, potentially, in the future.

“That would be irresponsible and illegal for me, and I’m not going to do it.”

Mr McGrath said Fianna Fáil is not advocating that Ireland would do anything illegal, or anything that would expose the country to fines. He said the water committee’s independent legal advice throughout the process hasn’t indicated any difficulties. “Let’s see what the AG says, and we’ll deal with that,” he said.

Mr McGrath, who helped negotiate the confidence and supply agreement with Fine Gael, also said he expects Fine Gael to fully honour the year-old deal which states it must implement the water committee’s recommendations.