Water charges - Time to end the pretence

IT is unlikely that we would face water or property taxes if not for the insistence of the EU and the IMF.

This is not to blame those organisations but to recognise the challenge involved in getting us to pay for something we have taken for granted, wasted and enjoyed without direct charges for so very long. No political party would introduce them if there was a way of avoiding the bitterness they will provoke. Whether this reflects more on politicians or society is another question altogether.

It is foolish to even pretend that we don’t have water charges already, we just call them something else and short change some other vital service to pay the €1 billion it costs to supply our drinking water each year. This is one of the reasons most of the country’s local authorities are on the verge of bankruptcy.