Government drops plans for excessive water use charges following backlash

The Housing Department has scrapped plans for excess water charges after criticism, with Sinn Féin calling it a hidden tax

Uisce Éireann first published its water charges plan last year, which set out that each house in Ireland would be able to use an annual allowance of 213,000 litres of water

The Department of Housing has reversed plans to introduce charges on excessive water use.

In a statement issued on Tuesday morning, a spokesperson for the department said that housing minister James Browne was aware of work to introduce regulations on excessive water use.

However, the spokesperson added that this was done as part of the previous Programme for Government.

“The minister is not giving consideration at this time to bringing in such charges. No proposal has been brought to the minister in this regard and charges do not form part of the current programme for government,” the department said.

“The minister is focused on implementing the programme for government, and in particular, he is focused on increasing the delivery of more homes which is his highest priority.” 

A note on the Household Water Conservation Charge was included as part of Mr Browne’s ministerial briefing, which he received upon taking up his role in January.

Uisce Éireann first published its water charges plan last year, which set out that each house in Ireland would be able to use an annual allowance of 213,000 litres of water.

Further allowances would be permitted depending on the number of people in the household.

If a household exceeded the 213,000-litre annual limit, it would be liable for a further €1.85 charge for each 1,000 litres of water used. There would be a €250 cap on excess usage, which would apply to both drinking water and wastewater.

A statement earlier this morning from the department clarified that the proposed charge was intended to encourage water conservation while stating that it was not designed as a revenue-raising charge.

The proposal faced significant backlash this morning, with Sinn Féin’s Eoin Ó Broin saying that it was an effort to introduce water charges “by the back door.” 

“The claim that the introduction of a charge for so-called excessive water usage is a water conservation measure is utterly false,” Mr Ó Broin said.

“The government's real intention will be to introduce the principle of charging for domestic water services as the first step in water charges being applied to all households.”