Eoin O Broin: Water fines for excessive usage unfair
Sinn Fein's housing spokesperson has branded plans to fine excess water usage as unfair.
70,000 households could face charges of up to €500 from Irish Water for excessive usage.
The company were previously forced to cancel putting fees on households after public backlash.
Deputy Eoin O Broin thinks people could be punished with fines, despite not being over the limit:
"We have a lot of property some very old and some more recently built properties that were badly built and that the people who live in them would have very normal consumption levels but because of some structural problem in the building there would be leaks," he said.
"In many cases the owners of these properties don't have the financial means to fix those leaks.
We could essentially be punishing people for living in old or badly built houses.
Mr O Broin added that it would also have a bigger effect on vulnerable communities
"That could particularly effect low-income pensioners or people who bought property during the Celtic Tiger."
