‘Straight talker’ muddied waters - O’Toole resignation

The sudden departure of Joe O’Toole as chairman of the water charges commission will make even more difficult the task of Housing Minister Simon Coveney as he travels to Brussels to explain the Government’s decision to suspend water charges.

‘Straight talker’ muddied waters - O’Toole resignation

Mr O’Toole has become a casualty of the so-called ‘new politics’ after remarks he made in an interview with the Irish Examiner in which he criticised left-wing politicians and said he supported water charges. Considering that the remit of the commission was to examine a future funding model for water services, those remarks were unwise, as they were — correctly — interpreted as pre-judging this central issue. While Fine Gael could, perhaps, have withstood the predictable objections from the AAA and People Before Profit, O’Toole’s days were numbered when Fianna Fáil insisted he had to go.

The wonder is why Mr O’Toole was appointed in the first place. He has always been outspoken both as a teacher trade union leader and as head of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions. While that may be appropriate for the leader or president of an organisation, the position of chairman requires someone more attuned to quiet deliberation and diplomacy, traits that do not immediately come to mind with him.

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