Enda Kenny faces more water protests

Taoiseach Enda Kenny faced more protests from anti-water charge campaigners last night ahead of further talks among ministers this week on ways to reduce and ease bills for households.

Up to 100 anti-water charges protesters jeered at the Taoiseach outside the Radisson Hotel, Galway, where he was attending a business briefing.

The Taoiseach and his entourage were meeting Galway Chamber of Commerce and Industry and city councillors to discuss the state of the economy in Galway and also to hear a presentation by Galway Harbour Company on plans for a major port development.

Mr Kenny said that people who have received boil notices or whose supply is not suitable for drinking should not have to pay for water. More than 1,000 people living in the north Galway town of Williamstown have been put on a boil water notice.

Meanwhile, the energy regulator has analysed water costs and says the Government will end up paying 50% more than households to supplement the average water bill.

The gross average annual household water bill will amount to €594, the regulator has calculated.

While €238 of this will be paid by a household under the current proposals, an extra €357 is paid for by the state to bring the bill down to this level, it says.

The figures were provided by the regulator to the Oireachtas Environment Committee in recent days following a series of questions asked by TDs last month.

They are based on the breakdown of the total €2.078bn in revenue allowed for Irish Water up until 2016.