IW staff sent on courses to help them deal with public anger

The CEO of Irish Water has defended paying for his staff to attend courses on stress management.

John Tierney says his company has a responsibility to make sure staff are capable of doing their jobs.

It was reported today that some staff are being sent on courses in "resilience training" to help them deal with the public anger about the charges.

John Tierney says he has a duty to his employees: "Every organisation has a training programme in order to assist their staff and particularly in relation to issues around health and safety.

"There’s an absolute obligation on us to be able to ensure that our staff have the capacity to deal with particular situations that may arise."