Water restrictions in Dublin highlight absurdity & unfairness of Domestic Water Metering Plan

The announcement from the four Dublin Local Authorities that water supply is to be restricted in Dublin until at least Monday the 4 ^th of November highlights the absurdity and unfairness of Minister Hogan’s decision to push ahead with domestic water metering.

The government is making a major mistake prioritising metering ahead of fixing leaks and building new water sources.  At Dublin City Council I called for the installation of domestic water meters to be delayed in Dublin.

The Government has not published the legislation to deal with the transition of water services to Irish Water yet they are pushing ahead with the installation of meters to homes in Dublin City.  A recent report to Dublin City Councillors severely criticised the arrangements for transitioning water services in Dublin City to Irish Water yet the Minister is bulldozing ahead.

This week many homeowners in Dublin have received demands for payment of the Property Tax that is not due until next year.  It is wrong that the Government is again hitting homeowners with extra charges for no additional service and as is the case in Dublin less/restricted water service.

To add insult to injury Minister Hogan last week announced a complete U-Turn on how the Property Tax will be used.  In March 2013 Minister Hogan told homeowners that 80% of their property tax would be used to provide them with local services. Now the Minister has and decided that he will hold onto 100% of the Local Property Tax in 2014. To add further insult it appears Minister Hogan is going to use the Local Property Tax to pay for his crazy plan to create Irish Water so that they can install meters so he can charge homeowners in Dublin for less water.

Even Minister Hogan be must be embarrassed to charge people for water services that are unreliable and subject to regular restrictions.