Sinn Féin has responded critically to Minister John Gormley’s announcement of the introduction of water charges to households in the near future. Belmullet Councillor Rose Conway-Walsh stressed the urgent need for the Government to abandon its plans to impose water charges on ordinary households and in particular their intention, unveiled by the Minister this week, to base the rates on the German model which charges its citizens more for water than any other country in the world.
Instead, Sinn Féin advocates substantial upgrading of the existing water distribution network from which up to 58 per cent of water supplies are currently wasted. “Rather than imposing costs on struggling households, there is a fairer and more cost effective approach to water conservation which would not add to the dire financial circumstances so many families find themselves in today,” Cllr Conway-Walsh asserted.
She said households already pay for these services through the general taxation system.
“In addition stealth taxes and charges are regressive because they do not take into account the ability to pay. The pretext for introduction of water charges is water conservation.”
