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Water Charges Administration

Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 2 December 2014

Tuesday, 2 December 2014

Questions (87)

Paul Murphy

Question:

87. Deputy Paul Murphy asked the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government his views on the increasing of rent for council tenants who refuse to pay water charges. [45854/14]

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Oral answers (8 contributions)

I ask the Minister for his views on the reported memo from his Department to local authorities raising the idea of increasing rent for council tenants who do not pay water charges and the threat of eviction.

Since 1 January Irish Water has statutory responsibility for all aspects of water services planning, delivery and operation at national, regional and local levels. The occupier of a property is liable to pay the water charges bill and legislation provides that the owner is the occupier unless the contrary is proved. Irish Water is providing landlords with the opportunity to prove that they are not the occupiers by providing tenants’ names. This will allow Irish Water to contact tenants to complete the registration and bill them thereafter.

The tenant will have to register with Irish Water to avail of the water conservation grant or to get lower charges than the default capped charge, €260, where they are single adult occupants or their metered usage is less than the maximum charge.

Draft legislation which I will bring forward will place certain obligations on landlords where the tenant has not paid charges. In the case of local authority tenants where deposit arrangements do not apply, a customer is in arrears for more than 12 months and a late payment fee has accrued, Irish Water, having first provided the customer with the opportunity to pay the arrears or enter into a payment plan, will advise the local authority concerned of the amount of the arrears. It is envisaged that the legislation would provide for the local authority to recover the amount outstanding over a 12-month period and to remit the amount involved to Irish Water.

These scenarios can be avoided by entering into a payment plan with Irish Water, which I encourage everyone to do. Various easy-pay options will be made available through post offices or other payment providers. The overall net cost for those who register is either €1.15 per week for a single adult household or €3 per week for all others. Water supply will not be reduced under any circumstances, as I have made quite clear already publicly.

My Department will be consulting with the local government sector, social housing providers and landlord and tenant representatives in the course of drafting the necessary legislation to give effect to the measures proposed.

That is outrageous discrimination against local authority tenants. The Minister stated that they could have money stolen from them to pay a tax they do not want to pay, a tax that they are boycotting, together, potentially, with the majority of the population. The Minister has stated, however, that councils should increase their rent to take the money for this charge off them.

Will he comment on the threat of eviction? If local authority tenants do not pay the increased rent that will potentially be imposed on them as a result of these water charges, will they be evicted? Will people be thrown out of their homes for refusing to pay water charges? How do the councils feel about being made into debt collectors for Irish Water? It is clear the Minister has problems with private landlords who do not want to be made into debt collectors. How come measures dealing with these points are not included in the water Bill to come before the House this week? Is it because he is rightly concerned about the reaction it will provoke? If people knew local authority tenants could face eviction for not paying water charges, tens of thousands of people, even more, would flood the streets on 10 December in opposition to this draconian scaremongering measure.

The legislation on this will be before the Houses this week and also early in the new year. Deputy Paul Murphy will obviously have his chance to debate all of this in some detail.

If people enter into a reasonable payment plan, they will avoid all of the issues in question. I do not envisage anyone being thrown out of a local authority house in any way. I am in charge of local authorities and I know the main reason local authority tenants are evicted is anti-social behaviour. I do not envisage any other scenario where eviction would be the course of action.

The Deputy claims local authority tenants are being discriminated against. I do not agree with him. It is only fair that everyone pays their way as regards the contribution to what is necessary for water infrastructure. Hundreds of thousands of people - some of whom are watching these proceedings - already pay for water and have done so for many decades. I do not see Deputy Paul Murphy protesting outside their water schemes, yet they have had to pay thousands of euro over the past number of decades for water. There are two ways of looking at this.

I am happy to explain how this constitutes discrimination. Those who own their own homes will not have money taken off them. Those renting privately may have it taken from their deposit, but that remains to be seen. However, the Minister has stated that council tenants will have their rents increased to take unpaid water charges from them. That amounts to discrimination against those who are council tenants.

Again, will the Minister give a commitment that nobody will be evicted for refusing to pay their water charges? The suggestion that people could be evicted was well reported in the media over the past week or so. Either it is a scare story coming from the Government or some similar source, designed to encourage people to pay and not join the boycott, or there is a basis of truth to it. If the Minister could confirm absolutely that nobody will be evicted for not paying their water charges, it would be helpful and assuage people’s fears.

Finally, the threats will not work, the baby carrot will not work and water charges will be defeated.

I thank the Deputy for his consistency, if nothing else. I have said this before and I will say it again: I do not envisage any person being evicted due to water charges and Irish Water.

Is that a commitment?

I am in charge of local authorities and when people are evicted it is usually for anti-social behaviour, although evictions are rare. Sometimes neighbours cannot live with the anti-social behaviour of others and evictions ensue, but I do not envisage evictions connected to water charges.

The way for people to deal with problems with water charges is through a payment plan, and various mechanisms will allow for this. An Post will be a key component in payment plans in rural areas, but there will be other options and I expect that many people will avail of them.

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