Irish Water billing - Muddying the waters even further

IT becomes harder by the day to divine what decision-makers at Irish Water are thinking.

Despite being dogged by controversy, largely of its own making, from its inception this State-owned company had a truly abysmal record of bungling because it was set up under the unseeing gaze of a coalition government forced to allay mounting opposition to water charges by offering grants.

Ranging from extreme campaigners to those who support the principle of paying for water, people either see it as an extra layer of taxation or as the last straw in a punishing regime of austerity.