Councils should be in control of water

Can someone explain to me how the government decided to give the responsibility of our water supply to a "semi-state" company? Was there a national plebiscite held to address the matter?

And seeing as it’s a semi-state company which has been tasked with the onerous responsibility, that means it’s also semi-private. What kind of tendering process was involved in choosing who the semi-private part of the mix would be?

A recent article in the Irish Examiner said this semi-private company is being given a subvention of €537 million — why couldn’t the government have given that money to the county councils to fix the systems and keep the water supply in the hands of our own local government?

The UN have declared that access to clean water is a basic human right. Why are we handing over control of a vital national resource to a semi-private company? If the county councils were allowed to continue with the job of supplying clean water, they could charge each consumer for how much his/her consumption cost to produce. No need for unnecessary profit.

I understand it costs money to ensure the mains water coming into every home is up to standard but many of us can ill-afford any profit margin included in the end price to the consumer.

Cynthia Flynn

Milltown

Co Kerry