Hogan in hot water again

JUST days into the new political year, Phil Hogan is back in the public spotlight once again. The environment minister might be scratching his head wondering “here’s another nice mess you’ve gotten me into”. But there’s no Stan Laurel for this Oliver Hardy of Irish politics to turn to and blame.

Irish Water was meant to be Mr Hogan’s pet project. Under a single national water utility — rather than 34 separate water authorities — there will be savings in the region of €2bn by 2021, the Government say.

The minister was singing Irish Water’s praises even before it got the imprimatur of the Dáil.