EU ruling can’t be dodged - Water charges

AS the dire predictions around what Brexit might bring and the learning-on-the-job calamity in the White House suck nearly all of the oxygen out of public discourse, normal, everyday life continues apace. 

In a matter of basic housekeeping, the European Commission has warned Ireland that it will take action over our “dangerous” drinking water. The commission told the Department of Housing this month that a test case on the level of trihalomethanes in our water system was complete and that action is needed to deal with the chemicals, which have been linked to cancer.

This, of course, leads us back to that battered tin that has been kicked down so many roads that it must be as confused as an American liberal. While Taoiseach Enda Kenny deals with Brexit and the world according to President Trump, this pressing issue looms again. Despite Olympian long-fingering the divisive issue of water charges will have to be resolved one way or another.

Basically, this administration needs to find the gumption to establish a system of charges that will pay for water services well into the future, one approved of by the majority of those who may be asked to pay something for their water. The alternative seems a capitulation to the worst kind of populism encouraged by political opportunism of the shabbiest kind. This, like so many other difficult issues, can no longer be treated as a legacy issue. Let’s deal with it now.