Fine Gael urged to publish legal concerns over water charges

Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael look set to strike a deal on the water charges issue which has destabalised the Fine Gael-led minority Government.

Minister for Finance Michael Noonan on Monday said: “I don’t know what way it’ll work out if it comes to a head tomorrow but certainly over the weekend there was a lot of goodwill among senior people in Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael to arrive at a mutually satisfactory settlement on the issue.”

The row over water charges brought the confidence and supply agreement between Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael, which props up the minority Government, close to collapse last week but relations thawed over the weekend.

The parties had clashed on how to handle water charges which were suspended when the Government was formed. The issue has since been considered by a special Oireachtas committee, the recommendations from which are due to be published.

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A tentative agreement between the parties on the issue disintegrated spectacularly last week, with each accusing the other of reneging on the deal.

Minister for Housing Simon Coveney, whose department is responsible for water, said the charges issue can now be resolved after Fianna Fáil said it would not expect the Government to introduce legislation against the advice of the Attorney General.

Legality

Fianna Fáil’s finance spokesman Michael McGrath said Fine Gael should indicate if it has already received advice from Attorney General Máire Whelan on the legality or otherwise of the committee’s draft recommendations .

He said the work of the committee, chaired by Independent Senator Pádraig Ó Céidigh, had been subject to constant legal review and no issues had arisen to date regarding its recommendations that there be no sanctions for water wastage or excessive use.

“Fine Gael entered into an agreement with Fianna Fáil last year and of course they will get advice from the AG but they seem to be indicating that they already have that advice. We certainly haven’t seen that advice from the AG on what is in the emerging draft report,” he said.

“Let’s get down to nitty-gritty and deal with what the AG has an issue with if in fact she has an issue with the draft report.”

Earlier, Mr Coveney said regardless of what recommendation comes from the committee, he would not introduce legislation that would expose Ireland to EU fines over its water policy.

“This is about ensuring we have a position that is consistent with our obligations under EU Water Framework Directives and it’s about a proper water policy based on conservation that encourages people to use water responsibly and that taxpayers don’t pay for people who waste water.”

‘Sick to death’

Mr Coveney acknowledged the significant disagreement on the issue at the committee last week but said his focus now was to try to reach an agreement with all political parties.

“It’s about settling politically how we pay for water into the future -I think people are sick to death of politicians squabbling over water .... I hope we will be able to do that and hopefully the committee will be able to finalise their report tomorrow,” he said.

Mr McGrath said he doubted very much if the Attorney General had any issue with the draft report. He said the whole issue of compliance with the EU Water Framework Directive would come to the fore when legislation is brought before the Dáil Eireann on foot of the report.

He said Fianna Fáil was “certainly not advocating that Ireland would do anything illegal or do anything that would attract massive fines on the country - we want to meet our international obligations while at the same time respecting the wishes of the committee and ensuring that is full honoured”.

“We believe that it’s possible to square both of those objectives...”

As the row escalated over the weekend, Fianna Fáil's lead negotiator, Barry Cowen, warned that his party would not facilitate the election of a new taoiseach if Fine Gael refused to draft legislation based on the report of a special Oireachtas committee looking at water charges.

‘Bad faith’

In an email to Oireachtas colleagues, Mr Cowen asserted that Fine Gael has acted in “clear bad faith” and would now need to be constructive rather than destructive.

Mr McGrath played down the impact of the email sent by Mr Cowen, describing it as a “statement of the obvious”.

“So we expect them to honour their obligations just as we are committed ourselves to honouring our obligations and so what Barry was pointing out was the blindingly obvious- if they move away from that position then clearly the agreement has been broken.”

Mr McGrath said the relationship between Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael had become “frayed” in recent weeks but he re-iterated Fine Gael had agreed to implement whatever came out of the Oireachtas Water Committee including the abolition of water charges.

The Oireachtas committee report is completed but its publication has been held back until Tuesday to allow the committee’s legal adviser, David Nolan SC, to scrutinise its final recommendations.

While some amendments might be made on foot of that advice, there is general consensus that the basis of the report will stay unchanged.

The Government will have one month to bring forward legislation to implement the report, which will be debated in the Dáil this week.