• About
  • Advertise
  • Careers
  • Contact
  • Cookie Policy (EU)
Saturday, January 28, 2023
  • Login
No Result
View All Result
NEWSLETTER
Tipperary Times - Tipperary News as it Happens
  • Local News
  • Community
  • Business
  • Farming
  • Politics
  • Education
  • Life Style
  • Jobs
  • Sport
  • Local News
  • Community
  • Business
  • Farming
  • Politics
  • Education
  • Life Style
  • Jobs
  • Sport
No Result
View All Result
Tipperary Times - Tipperary News as it Happens
No Result
View All Result
Home Business

Private Members Bill will limit Irish Water’s ability to fleece customers

by Press Release
December 3, 2014
in Business, Community, Irish Water, Politics
0
0
SHARES
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

Independent TD Mattie McGrath is set to introduce a Private Members Bill (PMB) in the Dáil Order of Business today aimed at further strengthening public scrutiny of Irish Water and creating measures designed to eliminate the likelihood of punitive costs associated with water pipe repairs being levelled at low income households. Deputy McGrath made his comments as further damning revelations have emerged which show that Irish Water has paid out an astonishing €5 million in legal fees to three Dublin law firms since it was established:

“The Government are clearly trying to give the impression that the Irish Water farce has been dealt with and now it is time to move on.

Mattie-McGrath

In light of that, what I hope my PMB will achieve in the short term is the forced re-engagement of Government with many aspects of this sorry saga that still deserve further critical scrutiny.

For instance, one of the measures I am seeking to have introduced is for some kind of insurance facility to be offered to households in the event of pipe repair or leaks.

We know from their submission to the Energy Regulator that Irish Water are going to charge anything in the region of €188 for a standard call out charge with each additional hour costing you €141.

This makes an absolute mockery of the ‘capped charge’ and the Government focus on affordability.

If these charges persist then it will not matter if the charges are abolished or reduced to 50 cent for a year since the cost of even two repairs which exceed one hour would be the equivalent to almost three years waters charges for a single household.

Yes we need to abolish the charges themselves, but the liabilities associated with repairs are where people will really feel it and it is an area that has not received enough debate. My Bill aims to remedy that.

Irish Water also intends charging €220 to test water pressure and €17 for a special meter reading.

When these are combined it throws the Government’s attempts to reduce costs for households into the realm of the absurd.

My Bill will require the Minister for the Environment to direct Irish Water, if it continues in existence, to provide for some mechanism whereby these costs will be eliminated or severely reduced.

It is my hope that Government will actively consider this measure and the several other provisions that are contained in my PMB; for in that way we can really see if they are still interested in ‘listening’ or just shutting down debate and moving on,” concluded Deputy McGrath.

Tags: Mattie McGrathPrivate Members Bill
Next Post
S19 3153 FB2CS09 3

Tipperary Obituaries for Wednesday December 3rd, 2014

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

© 2021 An AMV Publication - Agency Partner Trigger Media.

No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • Community
  • Local News
  • Business
  • Tipperary Sport
  • Farming
  • Obituaries
  • Education
  • Entertainment
  • Health
  • Life Style
  • Opinion
  • Politics
  • Contact

© 2021 An AMV Publication - Agency Partner Trigger Media.

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password?

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In
Manage Cookie Consent
We use cookies to optimize our website and our service.
Functional Always active
The technical storage or access is strictly necessary for the legitimate purpose of enabling the use of a specific service explicitly requested by the subscriber or user, or for the sole purpose of carrying out the transmission of a communication over an electronic communications network.
Preferences
The technical storage or access is necessary for the legitimate purpose of storing preferences that are not requested by the subscriber or user.
Statistics
The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for statistical purposes. The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for anonymous statistical purposes. Without a subpoena, voluntary compliance on the part of your Internet Service Provider, or additional records from a third party, information stored or retrieved for this purpose alone cannot usually be used to identify you.
Marketing
The technical storage or access is required to create user profiles to send advertising, or to track the user on a website or across several websites for similar marketing purposes.
Manage options Manage services Manage vendors Read more about these purposes
Preferences
{title} {title} {title}