Legislation on water charges non-payment after Easter, Taoiseach says

Legislation dealing with a refusal to pay water charges will be published shortly after Easter, Taoiseach Enda Kenny has told the Dáil.

Minister for the Environment Alan Kelly indicated earlier this week that attachment orders will be introduced on wages and social welfare payments for those refusing to pay.

Mr Kenny said Mr Kelly would bring his proposals to Cabinet in the next few weeks. "The Cabinet will consider these proposals and make decisions about them,'' he added.

“The Bill will then be put through the Dáil and Seanad.’’

The Taoiseach was replying to Socialist Party TD Paul Murphy who said the Government was indicating it would introduce the legislation through "leaks in the media designed to strike fear into people right across the country''.

Mr Murphy said water charges were not a revenue tax and, therefore, the powers of Revenue to deduct did not apply. Any move towards an attachment of earnings order would also have to apply to other utility companies.

“How many hundreds of new judges will the State be appointing?,’’ he added.

“How many scores of new courthouses will the State be building, or will the entire system simply be blocked up ?’’

Mr Murphy accused the Government of engaging in a “high-handed, arrogant and bullying approach’’ on the issue.

He added Mr Kelly was "swaggering around the place like Nelson from the Simpsons, threatening to rob people's lunch money''.

Mr Kenny said commentators were entitled to commentate but politics was about people and government was about making decisions.

“I am not sure that Deputy Murphy has arrived at that point yet,’’ he added. “If it ever comes his way, in whatever form, he will find he is living in a very different space than now.’’

Sinn Féin leader Gerry Adams said the Taoiseach had made it clear on Tuesday he fully supported Mr Kelly's intention to take water charges from people's wages, pensions and social welfare.

“He disclosed to the house that the Minister has yet to put a proposal to the Cabinet but he refused to outline the legal basis for the process which he wholeheartedly supports,’’ he added.

“That would seem strange to most people but in Enda land the absurd presents itself as a form of government.’’

Mr Adams said taxpayers would be footing the bill for the bills they were being sent for a service they would not receive.

“In Enda land, €85 million of taxpayers’ money was paid to private consultants for their advice,’’ he added.

“How on earth are citizens to have any faith in the Government’s water charges policy or, indeed, in the Government itself, when those entrusted with running water services cannot even get the basics right?’’

Mr Kenny replied: “In Gerry land, the record shows that Deputy Adams agreed he should pay for water until he heard the sound of marching feet and thought this was populism which required him to take a different stance.’’

He said he was sure Mr Adams was had read the reports of water being contaminated because of diesel laundering in various parts of the country.

“Every deputy should observe what happens in a water treatment plant to understand the cost of producing quality water for consumers, businesses and people alike,’’ Mr Kenny added.

The Taoiseach said nobody believed people should not make a contribution for water.

"When someone turns on a tap, whether in Donegal, Louth, Clontarf, Kerry or Waterford, somebody has to pay for what comes out,'' he added.