We’ve had enough of this water charge hysteria

I’d have thought Fergus Finlay is around long enough and is removed from partisan party politics long enough to make some sense of our present political and economic situation. 

Yet all we get (Irish Examiner, November 25) is the complaint that charging for water, is “a badly designed tax”. The time this country was suffering from badly-designed taxes was during the boom years. But back then there was not a word of protest. The problems caused by these badly-designed boom-time taxes resulted in the budget deficit reaching 32.4% of GDP in 2010, the bankrupting of the country and the intervention of the EU/ECB/IMF. The extent of the mistakes made by our policy makers — and unchallenged by our media — are highlighted by the fact countries such as Denmark and Finland pursued different policies. In contrast to Ireland, they suffered very limited damage as a result of the great recession.

If this country is going to get over its problems its media has to stop indulging in water charges hysteria. It also has to highlight the fact that this country is still borrowing to fund public services and owes well over 100% of its GDP. This will have to be paid back.