Irish Examiner view: Tough choices on vital services as families forced to foot the bill

For months, Uisce Éireann bosses have been warning about the mismatch between government targets for housing and the pipe network needed to take water to and away from new homes

A single 50-year-old pipe serving 40% of the capital from the Ballymore Eustace water treatment plant in Kildare could 'blow up in the morning', according to Uisce Éireann chair Jerry Grant. Picture: Colin Keegan/Collins Dublin

There were some plaintive responses when the Irish Examiner sent its reporter out this week to quiz shoppers about utility prices. They know that they’re a one-way bet. Heading northwards.

The most recent data from the Commission for Regulation of Utilities has shown that one in nine households in Ireland are in arrears on their electricity bills, while almost one in four are behind on their gas bills.