Enshrine ownership of water in the Constitution

As I see it, the troubling question of taxing water has three distinct parts.

The voting public have always paid for their water through general taxation so if there is to be a named new tax for water in isolation, then the portion of central taxation that goes to water currently must be returned to us.

Then there is a huge difference between capital costs and running costs. The updating of the network, piping etc, and the installation of meters, is a one-off capital cost that might attract EU structural grants in conjunction with a State loan of some kind.

That leaves the running costs for the capture and treatment of water and its distribution and billing. That is the part the citizen should pay for. In this regard though, we are fortunate when it comes to water in this country because we have too damned much of it. It is not, under any circumstances, a scarce commodity in Ireland, so it should be far cheaper here than elsewhere.

That alone might suggest that we have a golden opportunity to bottle and sell our excess water overseas, bringing in vital foreign currency to a new Irish Water.

Aside from the captive Irish citizen, they could have a second lucrative stream of income to offset our bills locally while assisting in further development.

All of this can only gain the co-operation of the public if we have a referendum to enshrine the ownership of our water in the Constitution. That would be Government of the people by the people.

John Mallon

5 Shamrock Grove

Mayfield

Cork