People forced to boil water should not have to pay water charges – new Bill

Fianna Fáil has introduced legislation to ensure people forced to boil water are not subject to water charges.

Moving a Private Members' Bill the party's environment spokesman Barry Cowen said there were many people in the State who were subject to a boiled water notice or whose water might be affected by potential lead poisoning.

Mr Cowen said the Water Services (Exempt Charges) Bill 2014 aimed to ensure people would not have to pay water charges for as long as they were subject to a boiled water notice or where the water was contaminated.

Introducing the legislation, the Laois-Offaly TD said, “They face the prospect of being charged for the water they cannot drink safely.”

Mr Cowen said he had hoped they would be "a little further down the road" in knowing the Government's response or that of the Commission for Energy Regulation (CER).

But he said that because the CER had not informed the committee of the contents of Irish Water’s submission on charges or had not allowed proper scrutiny of it “we are no wiser about what the Government or the CER intends to do to address the continuing predicament of the people in question”. He said the legislation enacted by the Government did not cater for “the reality on the ground”.

The Government did not oppose the legislation at the first, introductory stage and it will be taken in Private Members’ Time.

Local authorities

Mr Cowen also introduced a Bill to address a legal impediment whereby local authorities say they cannot take in charge private houses, because all services have been transferred to Irish Water.

He said he was introducing the Water Services (Taking in Charge of Estates by Local Authorities) (Amendment) Bill because the Government’s legislation did not address the issue. The Bill would allow local authorities to take in charge “many of the estates that dominate the countryside on foot of the large-scale developments in recent times”.