Water charges U-turn - Mr Ahern is spinning — yet again

In THE recent weeks when schools received huge bills for water services, they turned to the Government, which funds education. The Government insisted that the schools should pay the bills themselves as the country is committed to implementing the water framework directive.

This was introduced with the aim of promoting water conservation. The demand is essentially that those who use water should pay according to what they use.

This country got a derogation from that directive in relation to domestic water charges, but businesses and schools were to be levied. This is essentially an indirect method of payment, because businesses will inevitably pass on the costs to their customers.