Invest in water and not tax cuts

Water rationing is back for a lot of folk living in the north-east. Tesco has placed a limit of six bottles of water per customer at its stores in the area, not because of some regional drought but because of a burst water main.

It doesn’t come as a surprise to most of us. Up to recently, there were copious articles written in all media, virtually on a daily basis, on the protests around Irish Water and plans by the Government to start charging for water.

The Fine Gael-Labour coalition went ahead anyway and introduced water charges. Hundreds of thousands of water meters were installed across the country. That angered many more people, and led to street protests and huge rallies. Smelling blood, a number of left- wing parties and local independents jumped on the band wagon.