Paying for water infrastructure through general taxation would benefit wealthy people more than the less well off, the chairman of the Public Water Forum has said.

Dr Tom Collins has heavily criticised the way water charges were introduced, saying Irish Water should never have treated citizens like customers.

He added that “adequate attention was not given to the issue of affordability” when the Fine Gael-Labour coalition brought in the charges.

“Water charges were introduced at obviously a very bad time in Ireland and there were a lot of people who were not able to pay,” Dr Collins told RTE's Claire Byrne Live programme.

The Public Water Forum was set up as an independent consumer consultative forum to feed directly into the activities and work of both Irish Water and the Commission on Energy Regulation.

His results comes after a week of confusion where Fianna Fáil claimed the abolition of water charges would be a red-line issue for entering coalition with Fine Gael before backtracking amid anger from members of the public who have paid their bills.

An opinion of 1,000 adults by Amarách Research for RTÉ’s Claire Byrne Live programme found that 49pc do not intend to pay their next bill, compared to 22pc who said they will. Another 22pc didn’t know while the 16pc said charges don’t apply to them.

Despite his criticism of how charges were introduced Dr Collins warned that substantial funding is needed to pay for repairs to the system.

He said the problems are 'actually nearly frightening'.

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“There is so much potential for breakdown, for danger, for inefficiency,” he said.

“The State has been left with a massive bill for investment because previous generations passed it on,” Dr Collins said.

He asked whether the current generation now want to pass it on to the next.

“What was underground in 1916, namely Victorian water systems, are still there,” he said.

However, he warned that linking water infrastructure to taxation or bringing in flat charges would benefit the better off.

“If you keep rates within the tax envelope you are actually subvent the better off on the back of the poor,” he said.

Dr Collins said it was 'a critical and fundamental flaw' to treat water like any other resource.

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“To treat it like telephone or TV stations is to fail to recognise how basic a necessity it is,” he said, adding: “Certainly there should be a basic entitlement.”

Earlier in Brussels Finance Minister Michael Noonan said a future Fine Gael-led government would be prepared to discuss water charges - but not abolish them.

“Fine Gael’s position is that we want a national utility for water rather than it reverting to local authorities and we want water charged for, and it’s within that space that any discussions with a future partner in government […] will have to take place,” he said.

He said there would be no compromises “on the structure” of Irish Water but there were "issues around the edges that could be discussed” and charges need “not necessarily” reflect the economic cost of the utility.

Online Editors