Householders shouldn’t pay for lead pipe fiasco

Last Wednesday (June 10), I attended an individual Irish Water briefing in City Hall, Dublin, which took place instead of the group briefing for all councillors in the North East of the city that was promised on the issue of lead contamination in the water supply in north east Dublin.

While we now have a level of official recognition from the authorities that a problem exists, their response is not to treat it as a major public health issue but rather an individual householder problem. Householders have no responsibility whatsoever for the fact that the local authorities and major construction companies installed lead pipes under their homes decades ago.

So instead of individualising the problem and setting up a whole means testing process for partial assistance which would still be unaffordable to many thousands of householders, we instead need an immediate end to the meter installation programme and a massive diversion of resources and staffing to replace the pipes at no charge to the householder, street by street.

The Flemish regional government in Belgium for example yesterday has ordered the water utilities to remove all lead pipes (one in 50 houses) by the end of the year. Secondly, alternative short term emergency means of supplying safe drinking water to the communities affected needs to be implemented as we have seen previously in areas in the west affected by cryptospiridium.

Lastly, no measures to deal with this should be made contingent on householders complying with the water charge.

Cllr Michael O’Brien

Anti Austerity Alliance

Dublin Bay North