Government claims progress on new ‘affordable’ water charges

The Taoiseach and Tánaiste have claimed progress was made in framing a new “affordable” water charges regime at a meeting of the Economic Management Council this morning.

Speaking in Government Buildings this morning, Enda Kenny declined to provide fresh figures but insisted Irish Water bills would be reduced by as much as possible.

“We did make quite a deal of good progress on a number of issues that we will reflect on. I’m not going to mention any numbers here except to say that we’re all in agreement that these figures should be as low and affordable and fair as possible,” he said.

Tánaiste Joan Burton confirmed agreement had been reached on capping water bills.

“I’m very satisfied with the level of progress that we have been making and have continued to make this morning,” she said. “I suppose what I want to see in terms of Irish Water is an outcome focused on affordability and then the three Cs: we’ve agreed on capping, we want certainty and we want clarity.”

The EMC meeting was this morning attended by Mr Kenny, Ms Burton, Minister for Finance Michael Noonan and Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform Brendan Howlin. Also present were Minister for the Environment Alan Kelly and Minister for Communications Alex White.

Speaking afterwards at the Action Plan for Jobs progress report launch in Government Buildings, Ms Burton said she appreciated that the debate around water charges had been “very worrying” for some people, given some of the figures that had been suggested.

“I’m satisfied that we are working on an outcome which focuses on affordability, the agreement on capping, certainty and clarity.”