Charges for those who waste water or neglect leaks

Only households that excessively waste water or fail to repair leaks will be subject to water charges, Taoiseach Leo Varadkar has said.

Speaking in Dublin, Mr Varadkar was responding to speculation that even families who use only a moderate amount of water could face annual charges over €235.

“What is intended is to only levy water charges on households who are wasting water or not repairing leaks that should be repaired,” he said. “So roughly 8% of households in the country use roughly 30% of the water in the country.

“We need to do something about that. What we’re going to do is monitor people’s use through metering over the course of the next year, give people six months’ notice to stop over-using water and to conserve and repair any leaks they have.

“Only if they do not do so after six months’ notice will they have charges imposed on them. The detail of all of that will be in the legislation and will be explained in more detail by Minister [for Housing Eoghan] Murphy.”

Refunds will be paid by cheque at a cost of €178m to the state, with another €114m needed to cover the shortfall in Irish Water funding caused by the suspension of charges.

Irish Water has also said if a household property was not permanently occupied, for example a holiday home, there were water charges if the property is connected to water supply and wastewater services or to a single service. If the property is unmetered the charge was €125 per year for water supply and wastewater services and was €62.50 per year for a single service.

If the property is metered the minimum charge was €125 a year for water supply and waste water services and €62.50 per year for a single service. The maximum charge was €260 per year for both services and €130 per year for a single service.

The Green Party has called on households which disagree with water charge refunds and want to see action on water quality, to make a donation to the Irish Environmental Network when their refunds arrive.

Speaking yesterday, Green Party senator Grace O’Sullivan, a member of the Oireachtas Water Committee, said: “I’ve been contacted by a huge number of people that are hugely frustrated at the way this whole Irish Water debacle has been handled.

“They paid their charges in good faith, and want to see the investment in our water services that is desperately needed. Over the summer we’ve seen beach closures due to water pollution, harming tourism and the economy. We’ve seen the chaos of the situation in Louth with the burst water main. People are sick of substandard water services putting people’s health and livelihoods at risk.”