"Minister Gormley's annoucement that the funding necessary to improve the water infrastructure will amount to €1.8 billion comes as no surprise given the legacy of neglect and the absence of water conservation as well as rain and grey water harvesting measures advocated by myself and others during the buidling boom.

"Repairs and improvements are overdue as are retrospective measures to enforce conservation about which the Minister was silent today. But rather than placing the burden on PAYE taxpayers the funding should instead come from wealth accumulated by a tiny minority during the building boom who had no regard for the water infrastructure. There is governement and media silence on the light tax regime that applies to this day on unearned wealth in this country - profits and dividends in particular.

"He seeks hundreds of million of tax to be raised from householders to cover the cost of water meter installation when reasearch by the Anti Water Tax Campaign has proven that this will make no lasting contribution to conserving water. The waste of time and effort  being proposed to go into meter installation would be better spent on getting the repairs underway.

"The Socialist Party and its allies in the Anti Water Tax Campaign will wage a battle against the Minister's false justification for the charge in the months ahead and actively oppose meter installation in 2011 and organise non payment of the tax in 2012!"

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