Fears of service cuts to refund water fees

The Government are under fire for holding back money for cash-starved services and instead plunging the unspent budgets into refunding households for the botched water charges regime, wrires Juno McEnroe.

Finance Minister Paschal Donohoe confirmed that €178m will be spent on water refunds, potentially by the end of the year, a one-off spend which will come from savings across departments.