Move on water tax 'could take years'

A PERSONAL water allowance will underpin the new domestic water charge agreed by Fianna Fáil and the Green Party as part of the revised programme for government.

The tax is dependent on the installation of water metres in all households, however, a move which Minister for Energy and Natural Resources Eamon Ryan yesterday admitted “could take years”.

Mr Ryan said the scheme would probably operate under a quota system, allowing each individual a certain number of litres of water, beyond which a charge would arise. He said this would encourage the conservation of water resources.

“I know you wouldn’t think of it, given the recent wet summers, but climate change means significant areas are in danger of droughts,” he said.

Earlier, Mr Ryan told a wind energy conference in Dublin that getting a deal agreed on climate change at the inter-governmental conference in Copenhagen in December would be “a real task”.

However, that “doesn’t mean you don’t get down and start doing it anyway when it makes economic and environmental sense”.

National governments could, he added, forge ahead with their own climate change agendas.

A spokeswoman for Mr Ryan said the details of the water charge would be a matter for Minister for the Environment John Gormley and his department.