Latest news with #watercharges
BBC News
6 hours ago
- Business
- BBC News
NI Executive 'will need to raise funds from water charges'
The Executive will need to raise money from water charges or other sources if it wants to improve the performance of NI Water, an independent watchdog has Northern Ireland Fiscal Council said changing the structure of NI Water will not, on its own, make a sufficient difference."The fundamental constraint on NI Water is a budgetary one," it underfunding of NI Water has led to shortfall in wastewater infrastructure which in turn is limiting housebuilding and other development. Northern Ireland is the only part of the UK where households do not pay directly for their NI Water receives a government subsidy which diverts more than £300m annually from the Executive's Fiscal Council said a popular belief that households pay for water through a portion of their rates bill is not said the link with the regional rate was broken in Robert Chote, chair of the council, said: "The current funding model is not fit for purpose."Charging for water or increasing taxes would put a further squeeze on the household finances, but failing to do so has its own costs."Sinn Féin and the DUP, the largest Executive parties, are opposed to water Sinn Féin-controlled Department for Infrastructure is holding a consultation which could lead to all housebuilders in Northern Ireland having to pay into a wastewater infrastructure fund. The infrastructure minister, Liz Kimmins, has set out a second proposal which would involve voluntary contributions from said developer payments alone would not solve the problems but would be a "step forward on the journey towards having the infrastructure we all need".Much of Northern Ireland's wastewater infrastructure is ageing and needs means there are more than 100 towns and villages where the system is operating near or above capacity and cannot accommodate any additional wastewater in March, Kimmins said: "Due to years of historic underfunding and austerity by the British government, our current drainage and wastewater infrastructure is in urgent need of upgrades."Improving our sewerage systems will be a significant undertaking, costing billions and spanning multiple decades."
Irish Times
23-05-2025
- Business
- Irish Times
Renters forking out €2,000 per month are paying the price for water charges debacle
Abolishing domestic rates in 1978, and stopping water charges a decade ago were mistakes. And now if you can't get on the housing ladder or find yourself paying the average national rent of over €2,000 per month , you are collateral damage for these acts of fiscal stupidity and political opportunism. Paying up would have been cheap at twice the price. Nearly all public investment in housing is from central exchequer funds that rely on too narrow a tax base. Water charges could have collected money that would have been an income stream to be borrowed against off the national balance sheet. Resources could have been multiplied, investment fast-tracked, and the uncertainty of the annual budget process avoided. What was too smart by half then looks maliciously stupid now. Lack of underlying infrastructure, including water, is a key part of the housing problem. Uisce Éireann can't go to the market for money unlike ESB and Bord Gáis Energy because it was hobbled at the start. Telling local authorities to build more houses has become a kind of political sport. It is a matter of public record that we built vast estates in the 1940s and 1950s. Planning permission was not required, and local authorities raised funds through rates, and borrowed off the back of them. They could also make decisions without having to navigate the obstacle course of administrative permissions required by the central government. Reform the administrative system instantly, and what remains is local Government that cannot raise the resources required to do the job it is told it should. That is supposing local authorities wanted to take on the task, which largely they don't. Incapacity has made a comfortable career in local Government. We spend ever more on social housing , but the rents collected are inadequate to maintain the stock. Top-line investment is drained from the bottom because councillors won't raise rents to the modest levels required to maintain an expensive public investment. That deficit is an opportunity cost for the growing numbers on the waiting list. READ MORE [ Uisce Éireann warns of 'critical' need for regulatory reforms to enable housing targets Opens in new window ] As the housing shortage cuts deeper into economic competitiveness and social solidarity, the consequences of bad decisions become more apparent. In some ways, housing is more challenging than regaining international confidence after the financial crash because it is more operational with more moving parts. The decisions to cut off streams of sustainable funding for political advantage are chickens coming home to roost now. Homeowners need not worry too much – the greater the scarcity, and the longer the crisis lasts, the more homes are worth. From the point of view of wealthy homeowners, our system works. When the war on water charges was raging over a decade ago, we spent €300 million a year on water. Now it's €1.3 billion. That is big money, but the challenge is even bigger. In the Greater Dublin Area, water infrastructure developed for 500,000 people must meet the needs of a population that is three times the size and growing. We need investment of €55 billion to €60 billion up to 2050 to address known needs nationally. Nearly all of that depends on central exchequer funds. It is debatable whether water charges and borrowing off the back of them could carry that expenditure. But it is certain that all of it, on the balance sheet, is an opportunity cost that could have been substantially avoided. We are pursuing an agenda for spending more to get less. [ People thought we were fools renting in Dublin, but I'll enjoy my tiny flat while it lasts Opens in new window ] It is also more complex than that. Up to 2029, €10.2 billion is allocated to Uisce Éireann. Notionally, that services 30,000 new houses annually. But the target of 50,000 houses require another €2 billion over four years. Businesses pay water charges and rates. Households have a negligible property tax, but no water charge. That may qualify as successful politics but it sabotages those not already homeowners. Money allocated by the State over future years may be delivered on, but could also turn out to be a mirage. Funding is not what is promised, it is what is delivered in the annual budget. That highly political process is always more tactical than strategic. There is an element of uncertainty that inhibits long-term planning. Because of our planning system, more complex projects can take seven to 10 years to deliver. [ Charges for excessive water use not being considered 'at this time', department says Opens in new window ] On housing, we subverted non-exchequer national funding sources locally and nationally, and undermined delivery. Adequate supply of housing will take years longer, therefore. Politically we are so phobic that the Taoiseach insisted during his St Patrick's Day visit to the United States that 'there will be no return to water charges', quashing a story that even excess use would be charged for. The Government returned to office without a housing policy. Politically, this Government is less a Coalition than a cohabitation and lacks the internal cohesion or political will to take the risks required to exercise the authority only available at the centre to realign the administrative apparatus. Solutions abound, but on housing, the centre is now a vacant site.
