Substantial recast of water policy shows Coalition senses election danger

The substantial recasting of the Coalition's water charges plan is a clear indication of how potent the issue is politically, and how much of a danger Fine Gael and Labour view it as an election issue come 2016.

It now looks as if we will have a substantially different charging system from the one initially envisaged and a much longer time frame for introducing water metering.

Overly ambitious

Numerous Ministers have in the past few weeks said the time scale was too ambitious, a phrase also used by Minister for Health

Leo Varadkar

when he decided to shelve Dr James Reilly’s Universal Health Insurance plans.

The argument has been that the schedule was dictated by the demands of the troika, which incidentally wanted water charges up and running by the start of 2014 but agreed to a Government request that they be delayed until 2015.

That initial change now looks to be the first of many. The latest considerations at the top of Government are that metering will not be fully introduced until 2018 – a full four years on from what the ECB, IMF and European Union initially wanted.

A delay until 2018 would also place the introduction of full metering in the laps of the next government, whichever shape that may take.

Eamon Gilmore and Labour initially said they were firmly opposed to the idea of a flat charge, and the haggling over water charges earlier this year led to one of the most serious rows of the Coalition to date.

Cost before election

Enda Kenny

had promised people would know the level of water charges before the European and local elections in May, and Fine Gael bounced Labour into a figure of €240 per average family.

The Taoiseach said it on the floor of the Dáil, and there was seemingly no going back on it. That is, until the Commission for Energy Regulation gave its take on the pricing structure and the price per average family rose to €278.

Going by what Joan Burton said yesterday, it now looks like it will dip below €200 when the water relief packages are taken into account.

As well as the pricing, the timing has changed further from that initial delay. At first, homes were to be kept on the assessed charge until next summer to allow adjustment to metering.

Those without metering were to remain on the assessed charge, but recent weeks saw indications the fixed charge period could be stretched out to 2016 and now possibly to 2018.

The Government still insists full metering will happen; but it keeps slipping further and further away.