Parents will have to pay for children to use the toilet

A NATIONAL school that has seen water charges more than quadruple since the Government’s flat rate was introduced earlier this month has warned parents they will have to pay for their child to go to the toilet.

Last year, St Colmcille’s Boys National School in Swords, Co Dublin, which has 477 pupils, paid Fingal County Council a flat rate annual fee of €300 in water charges.

But school principal Jim Bennett said the Government’s new charge of €3 per pupil, aimed at reducing bills for cash-strapped schools, would have the opposite effect on St Colmcille’s.