'Serious disconnect' reason water charges unsuccessful - report

Water charges were unsuccessful due to the way in which they were implemented rather than the idea, according to a new report.

Researchers at NUI Galway have found there was a "serious disconnect" between the design and implementation.

A conference is being held today to discuss how policies can be better introduced.

Alan Ahearne, director of the Whittaker Institute at NUI Galway, said that the local property tax model should have been followed:

"When we looked at it in the report there was quite a few good decisions made in introducing the local property tax and that made a difference."

It wasn't that water charges were doomed from the start, and local property tax was inevitably going to go through, it was all to do with government policy and the way that policy was made.

- Digital Desk