The government has handpicked
a Water Charges Commission that is totally biased and has been designed to
bring one result – more propaganda in favour of water charges.
The Minister responsible, Simon Coveney, gave the game away when
he declared that he hoped it would ‘ create acceptance” among citizens as to how best to pay for water’
This is evident in the
composition of the Commission.
Its chairperson is the
former Senator
Joe O’Toole, who has already declared
that ‘central taxation is not enough to pay for water services’ In other words,
water charges are needed.
Among the Commission members
is Dr Xavier
Leflaive from the OECD. This agency has consistently pushed an agenda of
‘user fees’ and Leflaive has written that
‘water pricing can be used to signal scarcity and
to create incentives for efficient water use in all sectors (e.g. agriculture,
industry, domestic). Social consequences are best addressed through
well-designed tariff structures or targeted measures’.
The Commission has two key
figures linked to Scotland’s water industry, which the government sees as a
possible model for Ireland.
One is Peter Peacock who is
chair of the Customer Forum for Water Scotland and a former Scottish Minister.
He has written that ‘The Forum and
Scottish Water seek to agree between them … about the price household and
business customers should pay’
He favours charges and boasts that ‘customer forums;’
can help lower prices. Yet water and waste charges in Scotland amounted to an
average of £417 a year or nearly €500.
The other Scottish figure on the commission is Ms Sarah
Hendry, an academic lawyer specialising in water law. She teaches a module on
how ‘price setting’ can ‘achieve social and
economic objectives’.
The Commission also includes Gritta Nottelman, a
strategy consultant with Waternet, a Dutch water company that charges for both
tap water and discharge of waste water.
Another
member is Bill Emery,
who was a former director at OFFWAT, the British regulatory authority that
presided over a privatised water system. In his spare time, Emery is also an
‘associate’ of the consultancy company, Indepen.
This
company claims a particular competency on how business can interact with public
agencies. It lists a full 22 water companies amongst its clients.
There is no
representative of the Right2Water movement on the commission. It is simply full
of people who are already biased in favour of water charges. What a sham!