IRELAND will have to find an extra £5 million to co-fund water and waste projects because the EU is to reduce the rate of grant aid following the abolition of domestic water charges.
It was confirmed yesterday that the EU Commissioner for Regional Affairs, Ms Monika Wulf-Mathies, had informed the Minister for Finance, Mr Quinn, that she intends to reduce the level of co-funding for environment projects not yet approved for cohesive funding from 85 per cent to 80 per cent. The overall £100 million package will not be affected.
Meanwhile, the legislation to delete the controversial charges is due to pass committee and final stages in the Dail tonight and will be written into law after going through the Seanad.
In a heavy defence of the Government's action on water charges, the Minister for the Environment, Mr Howlin, insisted that Ireland is "going to draw down every penny of our European funding allocation to enable us to put in place the infrastructure that we are entitled to have in this country to provide clean water for everybody".
Rejecting claims by the Progressive Democrats leader, Ms Mary Harney, that metering is the way to conserve water, he said it was clearly not cost-effective. The decision by some local authorities to provide for meters was taken before the Government's decision to abolish domestic water charges and was not in line with his Department's policy, he said.
Mr Howlin dismissed the view that meeting the cost of providing water from national, rather than local, taxation violated the "polluter pays" principle.
Judging the latest developments in Europe as "a vindication of our stance against dropping waler charges", Ms Harney said it was now apparent the Government had acted irresponsibly.
"The EU have now clearly signalled that there'll have to be a charging system for domestic water supplies. If the Government goes against the EU on this issue, then we risk losing out on further funding from Brussels to upgrade our water and sewage infrastructure," Ms Harney said.
While it was widely accepted that the old system of water charges was unfair, insofar as some people paid when others did not, she insisted that a just system of charging could be implemented.
Mr Joe Higgins, chairman of the Federation of Dublin Anti-Water Charges Campaign, urged the Government to vigorously counter any impression in Europe that the abolition of domestic water charges in this State amounted to "a reckless attitude" towards the resource.
"Senior politicians such as those in the Progressive Democrats, who put forward this view, insulted the Irish taxpayer and gave credence and encouragement to false impressions that may exist at EU Commission level", Mr Higgins added.
There was no comment yesterday from Fianna Fail.