War of Words over water charges

A war of words has broken out between a local councillor and TD over water charges, after the publication of cabinet documents from 2010.

Cavan Sinn Féin councillor Eugene Greenan had called on Fianna Fáil Deputy Brendan Smith to clarify his position on water charges after the freedom of information publication of Fianna Fáil draft legislation, which proposed introducing water charges, before the Troika came to Ireland in 2010.
“The cabinet documents show that the then Minister for Agriculture, Brendan Smith, supported the proposal of water charges that were drafted to cost households €500 a year,” said Cllr Greenan.

'Hypocrisy’
“Deputy Smith has been very quiet throughout the entire Irish Water debacle and indeed the water charge boycott and I think that it is about time that he made his position known. This new information shows that households would actually be even worse off right now if Deputy Smith and his colleagues were re-elected to government in 2011 in terms of water charges”.
“Fianna Fail have proposed that they would abolish water charge if they are elected to Government but I believe that these new documents cast a huge shadow of doubt over their real intentions and this revelation ultimately smacks of hypocrisy”.
Deputy Smith hit back, saying “Sinn Féin cannot be taken seriously on this issue, having somersaulted several times in relation to water charges, with senior members saying they were going to pay the charges and then changing their minds and deciding not to pay them when they thought they were being outmanoeuvred”.

'Absolute clarity’
“The Fianna Fáil position on water services is absolutely clear. We want to abolish Irish Water, which is nothing more than flawed Fine Gael policy which has cost the taxpayer almost €1bn. We would immediately abolish water charges and ensure that there are no charges in the lifetime of the next government. Fianna Fáil would set up a new NRA style authority will set national standards, capital investment planning and borrow on behalf of local authorities. Delivery will be returned to Local Authorities. The new National Water Infrastructure Authority will be a much smaller organisation with 100 staff, with Oireachtas control over consultancy costs and no bonus structure.
“With regard to the Cabinet memos released at the weekend, it is widely acknowledged that water charges were being considered at the peak of the global economic crisis as part of the response to alleviating Ireland’s debt at that time.
“The possible option of introducing water charges were referred to in the National Recovery Plan and in the EU/IMF deal as a suggested method of tax income. However, they were not necessary. The Fianna Fáil Government achieved 70% of the financial target without touching water and the Fine Gael-Labour government completed the final 30% of the target without touching water.
“Any attempt to misrepresent these memos is deeply disingenuous and dishonest,” he said.