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"Water propaganda won't wash" -
Murphy
08.05.14
INISHOWEN People Before
Profit local election candidate Joe Murphy has
described recent water charges information as
"propaganda" and "half-truths".
The Buncrana-born candidate questioned the stated
yearly allowance of 30,000 litres.
"The average household uses 147,825 litres a year.
That amounts to just 20 per cent free allowance.
"Even if that household has one child under
eighteen, you will still be paying for 60 per cent
of your water," he said. |
He claimed the
Government had "held back vital information on two
crucial issues".
"They are not telling us the charge for each litre
of water. The average person uses 150 litres of
water per day – but we still don’t know how much the
water tax on each litre is. "Depending on your
circumstances you could be paying far more than €240
a year."
He said the Government's claim to be "subsidising"
water charges until 2016 was a ploy to take them up
to the next general election. |
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Joe Murphy. |
"Water in Britain -
where there is no ‘subsidy’, costs the average
household €477 a year. That is going to be the real
charge after 2016," he added. Meanwhile, he said if
the FG/Labour coalition was serious about water
conservation rather than simply taxing the natural
resource, it would introduce a national programme to
fix leaks which he said account for 40 per cent of
water loss.
"They would then change the building regulations to
insist that all new houses make provision of
separating drinking water from grey water.
"They would also set up a scheme to encourage people
to move to rainwater harvesting – using rainwater
for washing machines, dishwashers or toilets.
"The Government is doing none of this because it
just wants to tax water rather than imposing tiny
‘Robin Hood’ tax on financial speculation as other
EU countries have done," he said. |
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