Second Cabinet meeting under way as water charges to be revealed

The second of two Cabinet meetings on the upcoming water charges package began at 1pm this afternoon at Government Buildings and is currently under way.

Minister for the Environment Alan Kelly has said there will be nothing harsh in the new water charges regime when it is revealed at 3pm.

As they arrived ahead of the first of two Cabinet meetings being held today, ministers from both Fine Gael and Labour insisted they had listened to the public anger about water charges and were planning to meet their concerns.

Mr Kelly, who will announce the package this afternoon, said: “I don’t think anything about this package is going to be harsh but everything will be revealed at 3pm.”

Following weeks of protest and anger towards the Government over the charges, the Coalition is expected to enshrine a permanent cap on the charges in law in an effort to persuade homeowners that their water bills will not increase substantially once the existing fixed rates lapse.

It is understood the existing caps - which the Coalition revised downwards again yesterday - will stay in place until the end of 2018.

The effective charge for families will now stand at €160 a year. Single adult households will pay an effective €60 rate. Both figures are lower than expected and are inclusive of the annual €100 rebate payable upon registration with Irish Water.

The changes mean Ireland will have one of the cheapest water charges regimes in Europe.

Speaking as he arrived at Government Buildings, Minister for Public Expenditure Brendan Howlin said the controversy surrounding Irish Water had made this "the most difficult period of his political life" and that they charges had been a "final straw" for many people.

“They want recovery but they are now feeling that they are at the edge of their ability and that’s why we’ve tried to alter the structure of Irish Water and make the charges as low as is feasible,” he said.

Mr Howlin said the Coalition was a “listening Government” and that while mistakes were made, the Government had worked hard to listen to people’s concerns.

Minister for Finance Michael Noonan said "we'll wait and see" when asked if the announcement would calm things down. "There has been a lot of controversy...there has been a lot of protest. People have been quite upset about the whole process."

He said the Government’s intention was to meet people’s concerns.

Coalition sources said the principle of extending capping was to reassure people their bills would not “shoot up” when full metering begins, as some Opposition TDs have claimed.

Socialist Party TDs Joe Higgins, Ruth Coppinger and Paul Murphy today said the concessions being offered by the Coalition would eventually give way to a steep rise in water charges.

Mr Higgins said the Government was “reeling” as a result of opposition to the charges and he believed people would not be bought by “the carrot” of concessions as they opposed paying for water in any form.

The Socialist Party today called on the public to participate in a national boycott of the water charges when the bills eventually arrive next year.

While sources said the Government was not in a position to set exact cap levels for the future, the principle will be enshrined in legislation.

Homes with meters installed that come in under the capped level will only pay the metered rate in order to promote conservation.

The package is also expected to include compliance measures such as introducing penalties for those who have not paid their water bills, or entered into a payment plan, for one year and attaching unpaid charges to people’s homes, ensuring the charge would remain if they try to sell the home. Fine Gael sources suggested Labour was less enthusiastic about such measures, although this was denied by those in the junior Coalition party.

Figures compiled by Global Water Intelligence indicate the new water charges regime would place Ireland at the bottom of the EU’s water charges table.

It calculates Europe-wide charges based on a family of four using an average of 15 cubic metres of water a month. When allowances and the water caps are included in Ireland, the charges are likely to work out at under €1 per cubic metre. This is well below EU countries with relatively high water charges, such as the UK (€3.92), Germany (€4.80) and France (€3.66). But it is also lower than rates in the cheapest countries, such as Romania (€1.75), Latvia (€1.71), Italy (€1.52). Bulgaria has the lowest rate at €0.99.

Irish Water said yesterday that its staff would not be paid any bonuses for 2014, which were due to be paid in 2015, and the entire pay structure at the company was to be reviewed. However, Siptu, the country’s largest trade union, said its members in Irish Water would not accept any unilateral changes to their terms and conditions of employment.