Lack of expertise will bloat Irish Water’s costs

Unfortunately, these controversies are deflecting attention away from some relatively positive economic news and are serving to increase the sense of disillusionment with the overall system of governance.

The fiasco with the City of Culture project in Limerick is not what that city needs, but hopefully it will be put back on track as quickly as possible because the region badly needs investment and good news. The Irish Water issue is more difficult to figure out.

It is clear that Ireland’s current water supply system is not working properly, as evidenced by the massive leakage problem and the supply issues that have arisen in recent years, not least when the IT maestros of the world were in Dublin for the Web Summit. Imagine a country trying to set itself up as a high-quality IT location, and the water supply is cut off in its capital city. It is bizarre beyond belief.