10,000 householders a day calling Irish Water as TDs raise concerns

Irish Water has received tens of thousands of calls from worried and confused homeowners as it faces claims its communications strategy is in a shambles.

As many as 10,000 callers a day are contacting the company with concerns.

Irish Water was also forced yesterday to concede the deadline for households to register their personal details for charges may be extended. It said yesterday it had received 100,000 calls in the last fortnight, 70,000 in the last week alone.

Irish Water has also been criticised by TDs who have been given a special phoneline to pass on their constituents’ concerns. Fine Gael TD Jim Daly said he had to wait 42 minutes on the phone when trying to pursue concerns for a constituent in West Cork.

“This isn’t good enough. I was trying to report an issue for a constituent of mine in the Clonakilty area that I’ve been emailing and phoning for the last two months and when you try to bring it ahead and get to speak to somebody, it’s impossible.

“Patience was running thin on the ground,” he added, and the company also needed to answer questions about the millions of euro its staff will get in pay bonuses next year.

At Fine Gael’s parliamentary party meeting this week, there were calls by TDs to summon company officials to Leinster House to address worries.

Labour TD Joe Costello also had grave reservations about bonuses for staff.

Irish Water have confirmed to the Irish Examiner that 519 staff will be eligible for “performance-related awards” by the middle of next year.

But Public Expenditure Minister Brendan Howlin yesterday said he had not approved the bonuses and the Government had no control over what commercial state companies paid staff.

During a Dáil debate yesterday, Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin claimed the company had caused “huge social upheaval” and operated like a “gold-plated bureaucracy” which was extremely costly to set up.

Irish Water last night also said it may extend the deadline for households to register their homes for charges beyond October 31 as it apologised to customers who could not get through on its phone line.