There has been “no progress” made in relation to water charges in the last seven years, according to a former Senator.

A special committee on the Future Funding of Domestic Water was formed in 2017, two years after the introduction of water charges to all homes in Ireland was abandoned following nationwide protests.

The committee recommended an alternative; that households using 1.7 times more water than average should face charges instead.

Water charges

Committee chair and former independent Senator Pádraig Ó Céidigh, told Newstalk Breakfast today, that nothing has changed since the recommendations were made.

“As far as I can see, very little has happened other than the Government putting more and more money into Irish Water,” he said.

“In 2023, they provided funding of just north of €1.5bn to Irish Water in relation to supporting the company to go and develop services and provide better services.

“In actual fact, in relation to the area of ‘polluter pays principle,’ that doesn’t seem to have happened at all, that’s been totally ignored.”

Water charges protesters at the GPO in Dublin, 29-08-2015. Image: RollingNews

Mr Ó Céidigh said there are still no penalties for someone leaving their taps running 24/7.

“That’s my understanding of it,” he said.

“This was a very important point that the committee put in their report.

“It went to Cabinet, went to Government and was adopted and accepted by the Dáil and the Seanad about seven years ago.

“But as far as I’m aware, nothing has happened.”

Funding

The former Senator said Irish Water is well funded by the Government.

“Vast amounts of money have been given to Irish Water, over €5bn now since 2020, to give them the resources to do the work that’s needed to be done,” he said.

“They have made significant progress because the standard of water pipes and the infrastructure was damn near non-existent in some places in Ireland.

“The cost of sanitising, making the water suitable for public use, is very expensive.

“Therefore, wastage of that is a huge, huge expense, a huge cost to the exchequer and the Irish public.”

An anti-water charges protest sign in Dublin, 1-11-2014. Image: Andrew Steven Graham / Alamy

Mr Ó Céidigh said there are many “ongoing” water services issues in Ireland that need solving.

“Quite frankly, there are boil water notices all over the country,” he said.

“It’s a big problem in the likes of Cork and so on where, in order for somebody to build a house, they have to pay in the region of €50,000 to Irish Water to get a connection.”

Main image: Anti-water charge protestors in Dublin city centre, 21-4-2015. Image: Brendan Donnelly / Alamy Stock Photo