Two thirds of primary schools get water bills

More than two thirds of primary schools have already been billed to pay water charges, a survey by the Irish Primary Principals' Network (IPPN) has found.

The IPPN, which represents primary school principals, carried out an online survey of more than 300 schools last Friday.

Nearly half of the schools surveyed said they had received a bill of up to €2,000, just under 12 per cent have received bills of between €2,000 and €5,000, while 6 per cent have been billed for amounts in excess €5,000.

Some 66 per cent of schools said they could not afford to pay the charges which has erupted into a major political row with opposition parties claiming the Government is doing nothing to aid schools faced with big bills.

A European Commission directive compels schools, along with businesses, hospitals and the farming community, to pay water charges.

It had been thought that the Commission would allow the Government to exempt schools, however, this proved not to be the case.

When asked what they intended to do about the bills, 90 per cent of principals, surveyed by the IPPN, said they would send the invoices to the Department of Education and Science.

A majority said they would defer payment of the charges and risk the water being cut off, and that they intended to ration water usage per child if necessary.

IPPN director Sean Cottrell said the network strongly condemns any effort made to add water charges to the running costs of schools.

Mr Cottrell said: "Primary schools are already in financial difficulty due to the soaring costs of heating oil and other utilities with only a minor increase in state funding announced in the Budget".

"Principals are both frustrated and embarrassed from having to ask parents to fundraise for the existing running costs of schools," he added. Mr Cottrell said: "It is time parents and principals refused to prop up the shambles that is primary school underfunding."

Labour and Fine Gael are to jointly table a motion to remove the burden of water charges on schools at an emergency meeting of the Joint Committee on Education on and Science tomorrow.

The meeting, which will include representatives from the Department of the Environment, was convened to explore ways out the controversy.

"Fine Gael and Labour are totally opposed to this dishonest and excessive tax charge. Our motion, if passed, will solve the problem in an environmentally responsible way," a statement by Labour's Ruairi Quinn and Fine Gael's Brian Hayes said today.

Meanwhile, the Irish Nursing Homes Organisation (INHO) today wrote to Minister for the Environment John Gormley demanding derogation for nursing homes under the EU water directive.

INHO chief executive Tadhg Daly said: "We object to this imposition as for residents of nursing homes it is in fact their home and they should at a minimum retain that entitlement in the nursing home".