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Hogan says 90 per cent of all households face water charges by 2014

Image: Shaylor via Flickr

ENVIRONMENT MINISTER Phil Hogan has said that nine out of ten households in Ireland will face water charges by 2014.

Hogan said that he expected the system for charging for the provision of water would be up and running by then as a six week public consultation process begins today amid the reformation of water services in Ireland.

The government expects to establish a new State body known as ‘Irish Water’ which will take over the responsibility of the delivery of water services from 34 local authorities and install water meters in all homes.

Hogan told RTÉ’s Morning Ireland that he expected this to create 2,000 jobs for plumbers and people in the construction industry.

“Water is an essential component of any job creation strategy,” he said. ”We have an abundance of water but we often take it for granted and we need to protect it.”

He described the current provision of water in Ireland as  ”too fragmented” and said he was ”seeking to bring it altogether under one entity”. Hogan added that he expected a universal water charge to be levied by 2014.

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Comments (22 Comments)

  • Réada Quinn 16/01/12 #
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    And in other news the King of Saudi is to implement a tax on sand.

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  • Peter Carroll 16/01/12 #
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    Consult the public on what precisely? Listening to Hogan on the radio this morning everything to do with this has already been decided. Apart from, that is, how many local authority workers employed on water treatment and supply, will be made redundant.

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  • Eileen Gabbett 16/01/12 #
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    What a load of bull. Hogan and his ilk make me sick. Charging people to use water is the lowest of the low. My God what has our country been reduced to. Bankers and chancers….So annoyed ,it is depressing to think how helpless they have made us feel.

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    • Brendan Moore 16/01/12 #
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      To be fair, this is something which should of been brought in decades ago. It’s only now with so much negativity/austerity etc that this is the final straw for some people.

    • Eileen Gabbett 16/01/12 #
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      In fairness the household charge was last straw for me and my tipping point was seeing that Callely ‘man’ getting his costs for his high court action. So the water metre charges is another step too far … By all means if it improves the service but how can we trust them to put the money out of this ‘little earner’ towards the upkeep of our water …

  • Aaron McKenna 16/01/12 #
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    Another smash and grab. I agree that we should pay for our services, but the marginal rate of income tax in Ireland hits 50% at €32,500 or so, less than the average industrial wage.

    Maybe if government slimmed itself down it could afford to pay for good water infrastructure?

    And I like this: “We’re creating 2,000 new jobs…” Whilst taking yet more money out of the economy that will destroy how many…?

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    • Shanti Om 16/01/12 #
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      They could save a packet by ceasing fluoridation.. There’s sodium fluoride in toothpaste anyway, so besides the fact that there is no need for it in the water supply, it’s also unethical and unconstitutional to be forcibly medicating the public, especially with a substance that only imparts benefit when applied topically (eg toothpaste). It’s considered a toxin by the body, so unless I’m getting non fluoridated, clean water I’m not paying a damn thing..

  • john g mcgrath 16/01/12 #
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    Will this be implemented after the general election ?
    I think trouble coming down the road that the labour boys will have major issues with

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  • David McDermott 16/01/12 #
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    And how exactly are we to afford this water charge. Sure why not just tax air while ur at it. Absolute gobshites sitting there on 100k a year with not a bother in the world. C**ts!!!

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  • Tom McDermott 16/01/12 #
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    Here’s an example of what you’ve to look forward too http://nalcro.com/pages/water.php , I rang the council when i got the bill. they said as a business owner I have to start paying now. My office in 10 mtrs from my house and no water running to it. Told them to go stuff them selves and i’ll start paying when the rest of the country does. I was told if i took my business sign down from out side the house and stop advertising they’d scrap the bill.

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  • Kieran O Flynn 16/01/12 #
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    Does this water meter/charge apply to rural houses which have had to drill for there own well and supply there own water, which is not attached to any infrastructure???

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  • Kevin McCarthy 16/01/12 #
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    This is where folks really need to take a stand and just say NO. Otherwise we are pushovers for more and more.

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  • jimbo 16/01/12 #
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    Everybody needs to stick together and not pay.

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  • Mark Browne 16/01/12 #
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    This is a brazen take over of our water services. This government does not have the right to do that. Nationalizing our water system is a prelude to privatizing it. I get my water from where I live from my local authority. They provide a miserable inefficient and awful service. But I would rather face my local authority down than have some centralized office that will not listen to the Community needs of where I live. This is totally “smash and grab”! The government were not elected to loot our resources. The ran on a campaign to protect them. This is lunacy!

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  • Rocky Dennis 16/01/12 #
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    I wonder who are the 10% that won’t have to pay? The usual suspects I presume…

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  • Pat Murphy 16/01/12 #
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    wayhaay!! another QUANGO…..Irish Water. …public recruitment embaro????
    why can’t department of environment look after this? they sub out all their other activities!
    how many quangos under this department now?
    as for the county councils? they overworked as well?

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  • Gerard Murphy 16/01/12 #
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    Notice the way any announcement of any sort by Gov ministers at the moment has the word job tacked on, as if privatising the water supply will create long term sustainable jobs??????
    The implementation of the Phil Hogan’s meters will be open to EU wide tender procurement, so no guarantee that any Irish plumbers will install even one meter.
    What will happen of course is that this new entity ‘Irish Water’ will be sold off to the highest bidder as part of the second round of Troika ‘bailout’ demands, along with the ESB, Bord Gais, Coilte, Bord Na Mona etc etc….
    A UK utility will probably end up owning domestic Irish water supply by 2016.
    The net long term result will be job Losses in water supply in this country – as another poster alluded to – what will happen to all the local authority employed water workers at the moment?
    How’s that for 100 years of progress?

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  • Tony Skillington 16/01/12 #
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    Did Big Philly say how much a litre he’s gonna smack us for and what allowence will each household get? Last week they decided to charge us for bringing out the firebrigade..now they’re gonna charge us for the water they use to out the fire on the house they’re taxing…this is like a bad episode of the Magic Roundabout….

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  • David 16/01/12 #
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    Water charges should never have been abolished in the first place. businesses are paying it all the time

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  • sharon clifford 16/01/12 #
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    Jeez…… We are one of the wettest countries and have an abundance of water! In saying that we don’t drink ours as its cloudy and has a funny smell ! So what exactly will our money go on?? FFS where will this all end? :(

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