Government fails yet again to communicate with the public

Ever since a Sunday paper splashed with the speculative story that customers would be paying €300 for their water metres, the Government’s efforts at introducing a new water charge have been appalling.

First they failed to hamstring the Sunday Times’ journalist by saying no detail on water charges could be confirmed before Tuesday’s cabinet meeting. Instead they let householders panic for nearly 48 hours that somehow, they were now expected to find €300 to pay for a water meter — before they ever started paying for a drop of water consumption.

They also provided the spark to ignite a political spat between Labour and Phil Hogan’s environment department, with the former fuming that such a decision had not been rubberstamped as it had not been signed off by the Cabinet.