Water Charges introduction closer

[ireland2004]

Controversial plans to introduce water charges in Northern Ireland have been approved by the House of Lords.

Former Ulster Unionist leader Lord Trimble wanted the decision to be deferred and taken by the NI assembly when it is reconstituted.

However, NI minister Lord Rooker said the new charges were needed "to bring water and sewerage standards up to the level of the rest of the UK".

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/northern_ireland/6170253.stm

The campaign against water charges doesn't seem to be picking up much pace as of yet. More leadership needed from the political parties.

[Kevin Doyle]

This is on the cards dwon here as well. There are some idiots on DCC who are sleepwalking through this whole thing and are denying that water charges are in the pipeline. FF/PD have rolled out privatisation as an ideological pursuit and wont stop at the bin tax.

Commendaton to our comrades in the north who are putting up a big fight to this

[jady88]

Why should people get to use there water for free? I mean people in the country side already pay for theres so why not the city too? Not very equitable...

[Pidge]

Why should people get to use there water for free? I mean people in the country side already pay for theres so why not the city too? Not very equitable...

Well, on the point of equality, costs are generally higher in the city.

[Kevin Doyle]

Why should people get to use there water for free? I mean people in the country side already pay for theres so why not the city too? Not very equitable...

Well for starters, water is a vital resource and absolutely necessary to life. Hard pressed families (whos budgets are already stretched to the limit) don’t need another stealth 'tax' dumped on them especially for a resource that they absolutely cannot do without. What happens if they cannot pay? Are they to be pursued through the courts? Criminalised?
Are they going to be forced therefore to choose between paying water bills and perhaps food?

I know the PD’s have an overt ‘F*ck the Poor’ streak but I didn’t realise it was this blatant.

As for your attempt to stir up the Dub/country divide, let me stop you right there. No household in the 26 counties pays for water.

[Universal_001]

Why should people get to use there water for free? I mean people in the country side already pay for theres so why not the city too? Not very equitable...

Well for starters, water is a vital resource and absolutely necessary to life. Hard pressed families (whos budgets are already stretched to the limit) don’t need another stealth 'tax' dumped on them especially for a resource that they absolutely cannot do without. What happens if they cannot pay? Are they to be pursued through the courts? Criminalised?
Are they going to be forced therefore to choose between paying water bills and perhaps food?

I know the PD’s have an overt ‘F*ck the Poor’ streak but I didn’t realise it was this blatant.

As for your attempt to stir up the Dub/country divide, let me stop you right there. No household in the 26 counties pays for water.

Indeed, I actually can't beleive someone has used the phrase why shoudl people get water for free.

We pay taxes, thats why, so were not getting it for free, water charges just make us pay twice.

You could understand if water was some kind of scarce resource here, which it's clearly not.
and before anyone starts whinging about our crappy water infarstructure thats leaking to bits, a one off capital injection pays for this.

Laws are already in place for these charges they were passed in 2004.
Expect to see them in 2008-9.
When I emailed a TD about the law when it was going through, he expected me to beleive that water meters being installed by law in houses were just to measure water usage....yeh...right.

[rockofcashel]

No doubt water charges are on the way down here too .. just not this side of the next election .. expect to see them to make up for losses in revenue when house building returns to some sort of natural equilibrium level

[Universal_001]

No doubt water charges are on the way down here too .. just not this side of the next election .. expect to see them to make up for losses in revenue when house building returns to some sort of natural equilibrium level

Same old tired strategy.

Spend before election, knowing the finance boost is temporary, cut income tax.

When receipts drop post-election, hike indirect tax to plug the gap.

[Inishowen]

Why should people get to use there water for free? I mean people in the country side already pay for theres so why not the city too? Not very equitable...

Well for starters, water is a vital resource and absolutely necessary to life. Hard pressed families (whos budgets are already stretched to the limit) don’t need another stealth 'tax' dumped on them especially for a resource that they absolutely cannot do without. What happens if they cannot pay? Are they to be pursued through the courts? Criminalised?
Are they going to be forced therefore to choose between paying water bills and perhaps food?

I know the PD’s have an overt ‘F*ck the Poor’ streak but I didn’t realise it was this blatant.

As for your attempt to stir up the Dub/country divide, let me stop you right there. No household in the 26 counties pays for water.

I have to correct you there Kevin. When I built my house in Donegal 5 years ago I had to pay a 'Connection Fee' to connect to the local water supply, I think it was around £600 at the time? I had to buy a unit at the time, that the council insisted on, which is designed in time to put a water meter into.

On a 'green' note, it used to be the case years ago that most houses had a water barrel out the back that collected rainwater from the roof. This was used then for gardening etc. I'd imagine water charges will see the return of this now rare item. GO and invest now!

[qtman]

Indeed, I actually can't beleive someone has used the phrase why shoudl people get water for free.

We pay taxes, thats why, so were not getting it for free, water charges just make us pay twice.

You could understand if water was some kind of scarce resource here, which it's clearly not.
and before anyone starts whinging about our crappy water infarstructure thats leaking to bits, a one off capital injection pays for this.

Water is abundant in the environment but clean, potable water is a scarce resource.

The idea of water charges is not to make people pay for water; its to make people realise that it is a scarce resource and use it more economically. The same logic applies to bin charges. i.e. if you use more, you pay more.

Also, there are extra charges associated with water delivery in rural areas. People either pay connection and maintenance charges to connect to Group Water Schemes, or pay their own maintenace costs to maintain private wells.