Sinn Féin will stand with communities to resist introduction of domestic water charges – Clarke TD

Sinn Féin TD for Longford-Westmeath, Sorca Clarke, has said that Sinn Féin will stand with communities to oppose any attempts by Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael to introduce the domestic water charges by the back door, now or in the future.

“Communities stood together to defeat water charges before and will do so again. Sinn Féin will continue to stand with those communities.

“The claim that the introduction of a charge for so-called excessive water usage is a water conservation measure is false.

“If the government goes down this road, their real intention would be to introduce the principle of charging for domestic water services as the first step in water charges being applied to all households.

“This government is kite-flying in the media, despite having no mandate to introduce such a charge.

“They said nothing about it during the general election campaign, and it is not contained in the Programme for Government.

“Following a public backlash today, Minister James Browne was forced to climb down.

“But this kite-flying didn't come from nowhere, so my message to him and members of government is that Sinn Féin will oppose any attempts to introduce water charges by the backdoor, whether that be today or in the future.

“The evidence is clear: Domestic water charges do not reduce water consumption. They instead cause water poverty, punishing those on low incomes unable to afford increasing charges. Pensioners living in older properties are particularly vulnerable to the risk of water poverty if any form of charge is introduced.

“Many households that have above average water usage levels are not actually consuming more. Rather their homes are older or have building defects causing significant leakages.

“It is also clear that any such scheme would cost more to administer than it would raise, making their entire exercise utterly pointless.

“If the government was serious about water conservation, they would have fully implemented the recommendations of the Future Funding of Water Services Report, which set out ambitious actions to improve water conservation.

“These included expanding the First Fix service provided by Uisce Éireann, developing a proactive cross Departmental strategy on conservation with a focus on education and awareness; retrofitting; stronger building standards and regulations for all new residential builds.

“The government would also be funding Uisce Éireann to accelerate their own leakage reduction programme which is the single biggest cause of water loss in the domestic water system.

“The fact that they haven’t done any of this shows they are just not serious about water conservation. People already pay for their domestic water services through general taxation. Introducing a domestic water charge would be a form of double taxation.

“It would do nothing to reduce water wastage and nothing to improve conservation but it would punish low-income workers and pensioners. That is why Sinn Féin will stand shoulder to shoulder with our communities in opposing any attempts by Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael to introduce domestic water charges," Teachta Clarke said.