LATEST: Water committee votes to extend report deadline
The water committee has voted by 15-5 to extend its deadline for reporting back to the Dáil to Good Friday, April 14.
A draft report of the committee has listed five options for dealing with excessive usage.
Fine Gael insists there should be a charge in compliance with EU laws, while Fianna Fáil says excessive use be dealt with by the 2007 water services act which it says can be amended or strengthened if necessary.
The chairman Pádraig O'Céidigh wants a charge similar to the plastic bag levy, while other options have suggested examining legislation.
Fianna Fáil TD and committee member John Lahart says Fine Gael wants to spend too much money to tackle the small numbers using water excessively.
"There is very little, if any, willful, deliberate, conscious abuse of water.
"What Fine Gael are proposing, is to spend €300m, that could be invested in infrastructure, on capturing just a portion of the 7%."
:Fine Gael has not committed to a system of refunds in a draft report from the Oireachtas water committee,
The government party does admit that a system of collecting outstanding bills or charges may be costly, but it stops short in calling for bills already paid to be refunded.
In the draft copy, circulated to committee members this morning, the report goes through the different viewpoints on refunds, the possibility of a future penalty as well as the future installation of meters.
The 20-member committee will today debate the draft report, which was expected to be complete by Monday week but is now likely to be delayed due to a standoff over water charges.
In the draft report, Fine Gael maintains its position that “non-compliant households should be pursued”.
Nonetheless, the section on Fine Gael's stance adds: "However, having regard to the potential administrative costs of recovery, the Committee regards this as an issue on which an agreed position needs to be reached in the context of a wider agreement on all other issues.”
But others on the committee in the report are committed to refunding as much as €162m in bills, including Fianna Fail, Sinn Fein, Labour and Green and Independent members.
The committee is expected to seek extra time to complete its work and seek expert Oireachtas legal advce, which could take several weeks.
