Delay water bills until Government committee finds charges solution, says Jack Wall

Bills for water charges should be "put on hold" until a Government committee takes a proper look at Irish Water and brings forward a comprehensive solution to the controversy, according to Labour parliamentary party chairman Jack Wall.

Mr Wall said there was no logic in putting a “sticking plaster” on the controversy and issuing “bills here and bills there”. But he said the PPS number was not a big issue in his constituency.

Mr Wall said “there really is a need to slow down the pace of this”. He said it was still not clear if Irish Water was the sole controller or if the Government “still has a major input” and that had to be sorted.

The Kildare South TD also criticised Irish Water’s public relations and described it as an “absolute nightmare”.

Mr Wall echoed the views on charges of Minister of State for Rural Affairs Ann Phelan who said bills for water charges should not be issued to householders until there is certainty about the price they will pay.

Price uncertainty

Ms Phelan said the greatest concern people had was uncertainty about the price they would pay for water. In a vacuum “people are absolutely frightened and we have to give them some kind of certainty”.

She said “it would make sense not to issue bills until there was certainty about price” but it should be done soon. She was, however, not sure it would be possible to delay bills “and that charges should at least be capped until a fixed price structure was agreed”. The Carlow-Kilkenny-based junior Minister insisted “the Government is listening and the Tánaiste said the charges will be modest, capped and a fair price”.

Ms Phelan also agreed “there is probably no reason for single-person households to give their PPS number”, if they receive the lowest possible water allowance.

Identification

But she said PPS numbers were used as a form of identification by every Government department and were necessary in households with children.

Ms Phelan said people were frightened that water charges could increase because of claims Irish Water could be privatised but she insisted “it cannot be sold on”. Ms Phelan added that “if the company doesn’t do what it says it will go back to the local authorities in a number of years”.

Former minister of State with responsibility for Irish Water Fergus O’Dowd said the company should introduce a voluntary redundancy package as part of significant reforms to cut costs .

Mr O’Dowd said the company needed to focus on cost reduction, particularly this year and next. He said Scottish Water cut costs by 40 per cent over a five-year period.

The Fine Gael backbencher said a voluntary redundancy package could be put in place. More than 4,000 people are employed by the authority and if 1,000 took the package that would represent a significant saving over time.

He also said bonuses would have to be stopped and he opposed the merger of the Irish Water board with Ervia.