It’s been hard to keep up with the water charges issue over the last few weeks. It’s especially hard if you are a private well owner or a group water scheme member, quietly bearing the cost of your domestic water provision for decades. I’ll try to keep it brief.

The decision to abolish water charges has been a political inevitability since the general election 14 months ago. The remaining issues have been to ensure water provision can never be privatised, how to best curtail significant overuse/wastage of domestic water supply, and how to harmonise our water provision with EU regulations and avoid fines from Brussels.

In the middle of these real issues there has been a lot of posturing and politicking. Fianna Fáil accused Water Minister Simon Coveney of taking a contrary stance to the findings of the pompously titled Special Oireachtas Committee on the Future Funding of Domestic Water Services on how to curb overuse.

His insistence on not agreeing to legislation that would run foul of Brussels was painted by Barry Cowen as the Fine Gael leadership contest spilling over into the running of the country. The threat that Fianna Fáil would not facilitate the election of Enda Kenny’s successor put us on the brink of a general election. Unless Fianna Fáil abstains, the Government doesn’t have the numbers to elect a successor to Kenny.

Fine Gael, in turn, accused Fianna Fáil of being more concerned about being outflanked by Sinn Féin than on coming up with the most responsible outcome on water. Unbelievably, we were about to see the Government fall not on the issue of water charges, but on the fine details of how water charges are abolished, and on how to curb overuse and misuse of domestic water.

Thankfully, everybody stepped back from the ledge. The country is hardly crying out for a general election.

Section 6.3 of the committee’s report deals with fairness and equity.

That is effectively you, dear rural dweller. Under the new legislation, the cost of private and group water provision being borne by rural households will finally be addressed. Proper order, as these householders are taxpayers who now must continue to pay for domestic urban water provision.

Some form of refund will be made available, though not for this year. Justice for all, of a sort.