Opposition says water Bill was ‘forced’ through Dáil

Heated exchanges, insults and repeated votes marked the Dáil debate on a tranche of legislative changes to ensure water charges are paid.

A series of amendments to legislation dealing with Killarney National Park, dog breeding, waste collection management, air and water pollution, was introduced for report stage of the Environment (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill.

The move outraged Opposition parties and Independent TDs who accused the Government of attempting to circumvent the democratic process. They said the amendments should have comprised a separate piece of legislation because the 37 pages of amendments were longer than the 28 pages in the original Bill.

They also accused Minister for the Environment Alan Kelly of failing to give adequate notice to allow Opposition amendments.

However, Mr Kelly insisted that notification of the amendments was given in early May “regarding liability for domestic water charges and the process of registering with Irish Water and in particular, clarifying the registration process in respect of landlord-tenant relationships”. The changes include prohibition on the sale of a house until water charges are paid, the establishment of a database of those applying for the water conservation grant and a requirement for local authority tenants to pay the charges.

The Minister said a water charging system in which unpaid charges were pursued fairly was central to the reform programme of water services. He pointed to successes including this week’s ending of boil water notices for 11,300 people in Co Roscommon.

But Fianna Fáil’s Éamon Ó Cuív accused the Minister of attempting to “cut short the democratic process”.

‘Too much debate’

He said a “clear decision had been made” that if it was to deal with the legislation properly the process “would be too drawn out” and it “would result in too much debate”.

Mr Ó Cuív also claimed Mr Kelly “could not stand the heat in the kitchen”.

Sinn Féin environment spokesman Brian Stanley described the move as a “total abuse of Dáil procedures”. He said a raft of Government amendments were aimed at “railroading through what should in reality be separate Bills”.

He said it was a “clear attempt to force through these measures before the summer recess and a panic reaction to the obvious fact that huge numbers have not paid the water tax yet”.