Water charges and property tax may be combined, says FF

November 30, 2016

Foreword from Buncrana Together

We find that many newspaper articles just report what this or that person says and quite often put across their own political slant. On the one hand it is handy to know what each interviewee/interviewer is thinking. However, it is difficult for us just to give them a biased soapbox.

Here we have Fianna Fáil still dithering and wondering what to do about Water Charges, even preempting any Oireachtas committee discussion. Imagine the Fianna Fáil leader still playing this political game, releasing little soundbites to guage which way the wind is blowing, searching for little loopholes. Once again can we remind Micheál Martin and Fianna Fáil of their clear and unambiguous commitments to the Irish electorate.

One of the things that has struck us from the Domestic Water Commission report was the repeated reference to 'public lack of trust'.

The Irish Times

Water charges and property tax may be combined, says FF

Micheál Martin looks to creation of single household charge but not before 2019

Chaired by former Labour Relations chair Kevin Duffy, the commission recommends normal water usage should be paid through general taxation, with a charge for ’wasteful’ usage. Photograph: Ulrich Baumgarten/Getty Images

Fianna Fáil is to consider merging the property tax and water charges in a potential compromise.

The Irish Times has learned party leader Micheál Martin is examining the prospect of amalgamating the two levies into one household charge.

However Mr Martin, who has discussed the issue with key members of his front bench, is stressing the potential move will not be considered until 2019 when the property tax is due for revaluation.

He is understood to be studying the situation in Northern Ireland and the United Kingdom for guidance on how to roll out such a charge.

This would ensure Fianna Fáil abides by its core election policy to end the water charging regime and also comply with European Commission rules.

Previously, party figures have said it would be too difficult to achieve a combined water and property charge while preserving the principle of conservation or “polluter pays, as required under EU rules.

Revenue Commissioners

It was also previously argued by some in Fine Gael that it would be difficult to combine a tax collected by the Revenue Commissioners with a usage charge collected by a utility company.

However, senior Fine Gael figures have said they would also be open to such a move, as long as it preserved the principle of some charges being paid.

Senior sources in the party yesterday insisted a combined charge could be achieved if there is a willingness to do so.

“It could be done if people really wanted to,” said one Fine Gael Minister.

A similar style charge, combining water and property levies, was tabled by former minister for the environment Phil Hogan a number of years ago. It was eventually rejected.

The report by the expert commission examining the future of water charges was published in full on Tuesday.

Chaired by former Labour Relations chair Kevin Duffy, the commission recommends normal water usage should be paid through general taxation, with a charge being levied for “wasteful” usage.

Each home will receive an allowance “that corresponds to the accepted level of usage required for domestic and personal needs”.

Special exemptions

It insists special exemptions for those with medical conditions and others who require “high water usage should be maintained”.

The report will now be sent to an Oireachtas committee for examination and it will have three months to make a proposal to the Dáil for a vote.

Fianna Fáil’s housing spokesman Barry Cowen said a final party position would not be adopted until the deliberations of the committee were complete. “I firmly believe that the Special Oireachtas Committee on Water should now be given space to fully examine the report and to explore all of its recommendations,” he said.

Minister for Housing Simon Coveney yesterday ruled out refunding those who had previously paid water charges and indicated his focus would be on retrieving unpaid charges from those who did not pay their bills.

While Fianna Fáil had proposed to refund those who had paid their charges through a tax credit, party sources now declined to commit to this position.

“We are not sticking to anything, we are just sticking to the report,” said a party source. “We could come up with a range of options during the process of the Oireachtas commission.”

The members of the Oireachtas committee are Fianna Fáil’s Mr Cowen, Willie O’Dea, John Lahart, Mary Butler and Lorraine Clifford-Lee.

Kate O’Connell, Colm Brophy, Alan Farrell, Jim Daly, Martin Heydon and Paudie Coffey will represent Fine Gael.

Sinn Féin’s Eoin Ó Broin and Jonathan O’Brien, Labour’s Jan O’Sullivan, Anti-Austerity Alliance’s Paul Murphy and Independent TD Seamus Healy will also participate.

Source Irish Times, Nov 30, 2016

'Water charges will not be coming back', claims Fianna Fáil leader

November 20, 2016

by Niall O'Connor, Independent.ie, Nov 19, 2016

Micheál Martin has claimed that water charges will not be re-introduced - just days before an independent commission produces its long-awaited report on the prospect of a charging regime.

In an interview with the Irish Independent, the Fianna Fáil leader said the previous regime "came into disrepute" and his party remained opposed to any return of charges.

He said that a government would not have been formed had it not been for Fianna Fáil's decision to push for the suspension of charges.

Mr Martin also rejected suggestions that he had fuelled confusion surrounding his party's stance on the issue - a view held privately by many of his own TDs.

But the decision to predict, just days before the commission produces its report, that charges will not return will open Mr Martin up to criticism.

"We said before the election we were against water charges. We didn't want water charges. We wanted to abolish water charges," the Cork South Central TD said.

"We got them suspended. I don't think they are coming back, that's my honest position. I don't think this particular regime is coming back. I don't think it's coming back, no," he added.

The report itself is due to be examined by a 20-member Oireachtas committee - one of the largest committees in the history of the State.

It is expected that the chairperson of the committee, which will sit for around three months, will be a non-party TD.

The committee will be made up of five Government TDs, four Fianna Fáil TDs, two Sinn Féin TDs, and five members of smaller parties or Independents.

Members of the commission are due to be paid €3,000 each, while chairman Kevin Duffy is being paid €7,500. Mr Duffy is also the chairman of the Public Sector Pay Commission.

The composition of the committee has been the subject of tensions in recent days.

Fine Gael is strongly of the view that a charging regime should return. Fianna Fáil, however, has taken the opposite opinion. According to Fianna Fáil's submission to the commission, a tax credit should be considered to compensate those who have paid their bills.

Mr Martin warned that a decision will have to be taken as to whether a better approach would be to pursue those who have not paid their bills.

"My view is that when the law of the land is passed, we have an obligation to obey the law of the land," he said.

"There is either two options, you either go down the route of recouping, or tax credits, for those who have paid or we go after those who haven't paid. (It's) one or the other, but it has to be one," he added.

The Fianna Fáil leader said he did not believe charges would produce a significant revenue base to fund infrastructure.

Mr Martin told this newspaper: "The last charging regime was losing money, so let's call a spade a spade.

"It is not huge money in terms of the kind of things we are talking about here."

He insisted that his party will engage constructively on issues such as conservation once the commission publishes its recommendations.

He indicated that if the commission does recommend that charges come back, Fianna Fáil may reject the proposals.

He said: "We are not bound by the recommendations. We are not going to be bound by them in advance. But we will engage constructively at committee level."

Source: Independent.ie, Nov 19, 2016

Water charges ‘unlikely’ to return, declares Micheál Martin

September 20, 2016

Water charges are “unlikely” to be reintroduced, the leader of Fianna Fáil has declared, ahead of a special commission deciding on the future of water services and how they should be funded.

by Juno McEnroe

Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin addresses the media prior to the annual parliamentary party think-in at the Seven Oaks Hotel, Carlow. He confirmed his party will not support a Dáil motion by Sinn Féin next week to abolish water charges. Picture: Conor McCabe

Micheál Martin also confirmed that his party will not back a Sinn Féin motion in the Dáil next week to abolish water charges, even though Fianna Fáil ultimately wants to scrap bills for households.

He outlined how his party had effectively delivered the end to water charges after bills were frozen under the confidence and supply deal with the Fine Gael-minority government.

A government-appointed commission on water charges is due to produce a report on the future of managing services in November, after which an Oireachtas committee will examine the issue and the Dáil may act on it.

Mr Martin said charges, currently frozen, were ultimately unlikely to be reintroduced.

He said no Dáil motion could scrap water charges and that only a Dáil money bill could abolish bills.

He said the ‘confidence and supply’ deal with Fine Gael had “essentially got rid” of water charges.

“The only way that water charges can be reintroduced is via legislation by this Dáil and that is unlikely given the configuration of parties within the Dáil,” he said.

More than 90 TDs were elected to the Dáil this year on promises to reform or abolish charges.

Fianna Fáil, which supported the Government on the basis that bills were frozen, has told the commission charges should be abolished. The party rejects claims it has done a U-turn, in the event of a snap election being called.

Mr Martin said Fianna Fáil would remain “faithful” to the commission and there would not have been a government without it being set up.

However, he agreed that, regardless of the outcome of the commission, water charges were “unlikely” to be reintroduced.

Mr Martin was asked whether he thought the charges would be abolished.

“I do, but there are other wider issues besides just charges which fall to be considered,” he said.

He accused Sinn Féin, who are set to introduce a bill to scrap charges in the Dáil next week, of “playacting” in relation to their motion.

“Motions on their own cannot get rid of charges, only legislation can,” he said.

Sinn Féin says its motion presents Fianna Fáil with an opportunity to stop “flip-flopping” on the issue.

MEP Lynn Boylan said: “The reality is we do not have to wait nine months for a so-called expert commission to recommend the scrapping of water charges.

“The Dáil can vote in favour of abolition as early as next week and, in doing so, deliver what people actually voted for at the general election in February.

“They didn’t vote for a suspension of water charges. People want to see them scrapped.”

Source: Irish Examiner, Sept 20, 2016