Green Party Education spokesperson Paul Gogarty TD has urged the Departments of Education, Environment and Finance to work together to find a satisfactory solution so that schools across the country can avoid the spectre of being landed with thousands of euro worth of local authority water charges.

Deputy Gogarty, who chairs the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Science, has called an emergency meeting of the committee to thrash out the issues and look at solutions. He said:

"Some method of calculation needs to be worked out to ensure that schools receive a reasonable allocation of free water per child, to cater for basic needs, with a charge for any usage above that amount. This would encourage conservation and recognise the special case for schools.

"Whether this mechanism involves the Department of Education compensating the schools for payments made or whether it is possible for the Department of the Environment to waive minimum usage charges for schools has yet to be determined. However the reality is that the schools cannot afford to pay such charges without making sacrifices in some other area."

Officials from the Department of the Education and Science and the Department of the Environment and Local Government have been invited to address the meeting, which takes place at 2pm on Tuesday 18 December. Deputy Gogarty says that one issue he hopes will be resolved is the legal obligation facing Ireland under the EU Water Framework Directive.

"I cannot prejudge what questions members of the Committee will ask, or what views they will express, however we do need to clarify for once and for all whether it is actually possible to exclude schools from paying for water under the Directive. In this context I have written to the Director General of the European Commission's Environment Directorate and have already received a response from one of his policy experts. This will be made available to members and officials at Tuesday's meeting," said Gogarty.

"Schools are already facing huge financial pressures. Expecting them to pay for water will only increase the burden on the school management and parents alike. I am all in favour of measures that will encourage schools to conserve water and to prudently manage their overall grant allocations. But given that we are talking about the needs of over 750,000 children, treating schools like a commercial entity is not the way to go about it. I am confident a solution can be found, irrespective of whether the EU Directive is binding. All it needs is the right amount of political will," he concluded.