Establishment of an Expert Commission on Domestic Public Water Services

June 11, 2016

The Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government, Mr Simon Coveney T.D. is to establish an Expert Commission shortly to make recommendations on a sustainable long-term funding model for the delivery of domestic public water and waste water services by Irish Water. The proposed terms of reference for the Commission are shown below, and it is intended that the Commission will endeavour to complete its work within five months of its establishment. The recommendations of the Commission will be considered by a special Oireachtas Committee.

The Minister intends that the Commission will include both national and international experts and invites interested parties to put forward potential nominees. Given the complexity of the issues involved, it is intended that the Commission will require professional expertise in funding and financing of large scale infrastructure investment and maintenance programmes; economic regulation; utility approaches particularly in the water sector; water resources management and water environmental law.

Names of nominees and their respective areas of expertise should be submitted using the template attached to the Department (ExpertCommission@environ.ie) by 5.30pm on 17th June 2016. Please note that any submissions made are subject to FOI, and any confidential information supplied in this context should be clearly highlighted.

Final selection shall be a matter for the Minister, taking account of need for the Commission to have the best range of expertise to deliver on the terms of reference within the timeframe proposed.

Proposed Terms of Reference

An Expert Commission will be set up to assess and make recommendation upon the funding of domestic public water services in Ireland and improvements in water quality, taking into account:

The maintenance and investment needs of the public water and waste water system on a short, medium and long-term basis;
Proposals on how the national utility in State ownership would be able to borrow to invest in water infrastructure;
The need to encourage water conservation, including through reviewing information campaigns on water conservation in other countries;
Ireland’s domestic and international environmental standards and obligations;
The role of the Regulator; and
Submissions from all interested parties.

The Commission will be empowered to commission relevant research and hear evidence to assist this work. The Commission shall endeavour to complete its work within five months of its establishment.

Original article published on Friday, June 10, 2016; Dept of the Environment

Buncrana Together

This idea of setting up a commission to investigate the so called best model of water services in Ireland was first muted by Eoin O' Broin, Sinn Fein on RTE's This Week on March 13, 2016. This was an unilateral call by Sinn Fein, one which surprised quite a few anti water charge groups in the country. What was more alarming was that Mr O'Broin agreed to abide by any decision of any commission even if it came out in favour of Irish Water and charges.

This was not the first time Sinn Fein went out on a limb, making unilateral decisions. Once again this put the water movement on the back foot. It is still unknown whether the self proclaimed leadership of Righ2Water, i.e Brendan Ogle & Co, knew anything about the O'Broin statement beforehand. There was no explanation, no condemnation of the proposal and no statement from Mr Ogle.

Bear in mind that the 'Commission' proposed by Sinn Fein was at a time of intense negotiations between parties and independent TDs trying to form a new government after the inconclusive February 26th general election.

What was Sinn Fein's motive for suddenly and without a mandate calling for a commission? Only they can answer that but for us it was manipulation and it eventually handed an excuse to Fine Gael to form a minority government with an agreement from Fianna Fail. Fine Gael and Fianna Fail got over the thorny, divisive issue by agreeing to a commission on water services and abolishing water charges for nine months at least.

Who knows maybe they might have come up with that idea anyway but they knew that Sinn Fein could not say boo since they came up with the idea in the first place. The water campaign is at the mercy of political manipulation and party politics.

Now we have Fine Gael on their high horse pushing their own agenda with Fianna Fail adding little input or criticism. Not only does Fine Gael want 'experts' but the minister is going to pick them as described in the following extract from their submission of nominees.

"Final selection shall be a matter for the Minister, taking account of need for the Commission to have the best range of expertise to deliver on the terms of reference within the timeframe proposed."

Writing off unpaid water charges would set a "dangerous precedent" - Simon Coveney

June 9, 2016

Minister Coveney says he is "not going to make a fool out of" people who have already paid their bills

Simon Coveney, Minister responsible for Irish Water

The Minister with responsibility for Irish Water says it would set a 'dangerous precedent' to write off the water charges people have not paid.

The Government is set to introduce legislation to suspend the controversial charges for nine months while the future of Irish Water and water charges are examined.

However, only 64% of customers are reported to have paid their water bill to date - with Simon Coveney admitting there was a 'fall-off' after the general election amid speculation the utility might be abolished.

Speaking to Newstalk Breakfast, Minister Coveney said: "We've made it very clear in our Programme for Government that people who have paid are not going to be disadvantaged versus people who haven't [...] When we suspend charges, what we want is to suspend charges and penalties for the nine-month period to take the heat out of the situation."

He said that it is view that Irish Water should be "pursuing people who haven't paid. When there are charges that people are legally bound to pay, I think it would set a very dangerous precedent for us to simply write them off. That is not what I'd be advocating."

He explained that Fine Gael wants to pursue people who haven't paid in a way that will allow them to afford the charges. However, he added that "I am not going to make a fool out of people who have paid their water charges because they believed it was the right thing to do, and they believed they had a responsibility to do that."

Irish Water's parent company, Ervia, has previously said that 64% of customers had paid the charges at the end of its fourth billing cycle, which covered services for the last three months of 2015.

According to Ervia, 975,000 customers had paid "all or part of their bills" by the end of March.

However, company revenue fell dramatically as debate over charges intensified around the time of the general election.

Money taken in from the fourth billing cycle added up to €33.4 million, compared to €42.3 million for the third, €38 million for the second and €30.5 million for the first.

Earlier this month, Taoiseach Enda Kenny's latest comments on water chargeswere described a 'slap in the face' to voters by Opposition politicians.

Original article; newstalk.com, June 9, 2016

Irish politicians trying to blame Brussels on water charges had no legal basis for their arguments

June 7, 2016

Harkin Denounces Irish Politicians on Water Charges

Irish politicians who were trying to blame Brussels on the water charges issue in pursuit of their own agendas had no legal basis for their arguments. This charge was levelled in the European Parliament in Strasbourg by Independent MEP Marian Harkin when she denounced political attempts to blame Brussels in the current controversy.

Marian Harkin said:- “My question is ‘Can Irish politicians use the time honoured excuse – Brussels made us do it’ in relation to the payment of water charges?

“The Water Framework Directive gives Member States a clear ‘opt out’ where they can decide in accordance with established practices not to apply water charges. In fact this opt out was put in place for Ireland; the reality is Irish governments have so far not activated that opt out in their river basin management plans.

“So the question now is, what are established practices? Former Commissioner Potocnik himself answered that question in 2010 when he clarified established practice as being at the time of adoption of the Directive. For EU and Ireland that was 2003 - not 2010, not 2012, not 2016, its 2003 when there was no question of water charges being applied. There should be no further argument on this point, the Commission have clarified it already.

“Furthermore in 2014 the European Court of Justice found against the European Commission when they took Germany to court for not charging for certain water services, including personal consumption.

“The Court was clear in its judgement when it stated ‘the EU legislature intended to allow Member States to determine the measures to be adopted for the recovery of costs without extending it to all services associated with water use’.

“This puts beyond question any suggestion that Member States must apply water charges. The ECJ has very clearly stated that Member States have flexibility when it comes to charges for water - that’s how the legislation was written in the first place and that´s how the Court ruled. The Court further states the Directive ‘does not per-se impose a generalised pricing obligation in respect of all activities relating to water use’, once again clarifying that Member States do not have to impose water charges.

“In this case, what’s good enough for Germany is good enough for Ireland and those Irish politicians who are trying to blame Brussels while pursuing their own agendas have no legal basis for their argument”, Independent MEP Marian concluded.

Original article; www.mediahq.com, June 7, 2016