John Halligan to vote with Government on water charges vote

An Independent minister of state will vote with the Government in a Dáil debate calling for the abolition of water charges this week, after initially indicating he would support a Sinn Féin motion on the issue.

Waterford TD John Halligan clarified his position after speaking with Simon Coveney, the Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government, who also has responsibility for water charges and Irish Water.

It is understood Mr Coveney and Mr Halligan, who is the Minister of State for Training and Skills, discussed a counter motion to be tabled by the Government.

The counter motion will be framed along the lines of the water agreement reached between Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil as part of the deal on a minority government.

Mr Coveney said the agreement between Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael on water charges was precisely for dealing with motions such as the one tabled by Sinn Féin.

Mr Halligan’s initial statement that he could back the Sinn Féin motion on abolishing Irish Water and water charges came before he had read the actual motion. Voting against the Government would effectively have meant he would lose his job as a government minister.

Initially speaking to Today FM, Mr Halligan said he had made his “position quite clear on water charges and Irish Water”.

“I think I will be voting in favour of it (the motion) because I don’t think it is fit for purpose. I have to have a look at it first, I haven’t seen it yet, to see exactly what the wording of it is and does it clash with what has already been agreed with Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael and the Programme for Government for this commission to be set up to see if Irish Water is viable.”

The Fianna Fáil-Fine Gael deal commits to suspension of water charges for nine months and the establishment of an independent commission to examine the future charging regime, which will be followed by the examination of the issue by an Oireachtas committee.

The deal says Irish Water will be retained as an entity “in public ownership responsible for the delivery of water and wastewater services”. It also says the Dáil will eventually decide the future of charges. A majority of deputies oppose charging.

The Programme for Government says all office holders - both senior and junior ministers - will be bound on the approach of Cabinet to private members’ motions, such as the one tabled on water this week.

Sinn Féin's Eoin Ó'Bróin said the electorate of Waterford will give their judgement on Mr Halligan's actions. Mr Ó'Bróin and TDs Paul Murphy, Richard Boyd-Barrett and Joan Collins all said Fianna Fáil had a duty to stick to their election promises and support the motion.

Fianna Fáil’s Barry Cowen said his party will table a counter motion, which also effectively outlines the agreement reached with Fine Gael on the issue.

“Fianna Fáil did the hard negotiating and achieved a path forward on water charges and Irish Water, while others stood on the sidelines and sniped,” Mr Cowen said.

“Legislation will now come forward to stop bills being issued until such times as a majority of deputies in Dáil Éireann vote for their reintroduction.”

He accused Sinn Féin of wasting Dáil time on “meaningless political point scoring”.