Harney overplays her hand on water charges

IT WAS a political gamble. From a position where the Progressive Democrats were losing ground because of Bobby Molloy's open handed offer of £23 million to fund local water schemes in government, Mary Harney went for broke in an effort to turn the situation around.

As a repositioning exercise in advance of the general election, it was a high risk operation. By putting distance between herself and the promises of Mr Molloy, she had two objectives: to re establish her party's credentials for fiscal rectitude and to undermine the credibility of the Government.

She overplayed her hand. Twice. The first occasion was when she told Aine Lawlor on Morning Ireland that the Progressive Democrats would revisit the water charges issue on return to government and that they should not have been abolished in the first place. The second was when she accused the Government of attempting to hide a draft EU directive on water policy and declared that Ireland would have no option in the future but to accept the imposition of water charges.

Within a week, Ms Harney has changed the political goalposts a number of times. Her statement that water charges should not have been abolished by the Government was implicitly abandoned last Tuesday when she told journalists: "The present system of water charges is inequitable and must be replaced by one which links usage to payment and takes on board the EU directive."

There was, therefore, no question of the Progressive Democrats attempting to reimpose the old "inequitable" charges after the election. It was a recognition of political reality. Mary O'Rourke and Charlie McCreevy had both unambiguously declared that Fianna Fail was not in the business of re establishing the old system on return to government. The Progressive Democrats might want but Fianna Fail would not deliver, they said

By last Monday night, that particular game was up. Both sides accepted that water charges would not be a stumbling block to the formation of a Fianna Fail/Progressive Democrats coalition. It was time to switch the ball.

At a press conference on Tuesday she accused Brendan Howlin and the Government of trying to hoodwink the public. "Perpetuating a fraud on the taxpayer" was the harsh political charge made. Projecting herself as the champion of truth and fiscal rectitude, a woman of courage and commitment who dared to face unpalatable facts and always told the truth, she said water was not free and would have to be paid for.

It was a truism offered as a deep political insight and she accused the Government of creating false expectations and of engaging in "the political values of `cute hoorism'."

Mr Howlin was blamed for secretly negotiating on the introduction of EU sponsored water charges within months of abolishing such charges here. She produced elements of the "secret" draft EU directive for perusal by journalists. "Now we know that, whether we like it or not, we will have to charge for water ... there are no grounds or which Ireland can seek an exemption," she declared.

But it wasn't as simple as that The document was, after all, only draft directive which could be changed or amended by the Council of Ministers and by the European Parliament, and it wasn't secret.

Mr Howlin had fully briefed journalists on the document last March when it had first been discussed by the council. He had recorded the Government's objection to the metering of domestic water and he had indicated the cost would be paid for out of general taxation.

Ms Harney's assertion that the Government would have to reintroduce water charges is contested by Mr Howlin. The draft directive states: "In accordance with the principle of subsidiarity, the proposal focuses on establishing the right conditions to encourage the efficient and effective protection of water at the local level. Member states and local competent authorities are thus confirmed as the main actors, putting into place most of the mechanisms and measures to ensure an adequate protection and use of water."

Last night, Ms Harney was still hanging tough, quoting "senior EU sources" in support of her contention that Ireland would not be able to opt out of a new regime and that the Government's behaviour was "already causing serious damage to Ireland's standing and credibility in Europe.

It was over the top stuff, elevating a pre election political spat into an international issue, but Mary Harney plays rough and doesn't take prisoners. Behind the well groomed feminine exterior, there beats an adamantine political heart.

She also enjoys something of a Teflon style relationship with the media: very little sticks.

Fianna Fail has been privately appalled by the PDs' "solo run" in advance of the election. It has moved to ring fence the issue by saying the Progressive Democrats' approach would not dictate policy in a new government. Promising a new water charge is not Fianna Fail's idea of election campaigning.

Paradoxically, however, the controversy may have helped the Progressive Democrats. A party with a slowly declining profile has beer catapulted into the limelight. B making the principle rather than the practice of water charges an issue Mary Harney struck a chord with many middle class voters. She also scored on the conservation front.

The audacity of the move reflected Michael McDowell's old demand that the party should be "radical or redundant".