It was announced on Monday 22 October 2007, that Northern Ireland householders are going to have to pay water charges, but they have been postponed for another year. The charges will be phased in over two years from April 2009, but crucially the Northern Ireland Executive has decided there will be no double charging as originally planned under direct rule.
The announcement was made in a special statement to the Assembly by Regional Development Minister Conor Murphy, who also accepted the views of an independent review led by Professor Paddy Hillyard, stating that the amount due to be collected from households should be reduced by the amount of contributions they are already paying via the rates. This will be £109 million - equivalent to £160 per household.
However, Mr Murphy also confirmed that extra payments would be introduced in 2009/10. "The panel had suggested that these additional contributions should come into effect in full for domestic households from 2009/10. However we have concluded instead that they should be phased in with domestic households paying two thirds of their full liability in 2009/10 and their full liability the year after. This means there will be no double payment."
