OK Lets get one thing straight, the idea that the Irish people dont want to pay for a services is a complete and utter insult and a distortion of the facts. Yes water needs to be treated and a pipework system needs to be maintained and yes this system need billions to upgrade it. That said the Irish people do pay for water as they always have done through direct and indirect taxation, (We have one of the higher VAT rates and the lowest corporation tax) and the reason our water system is in a mess is our elected representatives would rather spend our money bailing out their friends in the banks, give huge bonuses for doing nothing and in tax breaks for the rich. They have let it get into this state now they want the Irish people to pay twice for the same service to fix it. Secondly our government have form in stitching up the Irish people when it comes to so called environmentally friendly taxes and selling off our amenities AFTER we have put millions into upgrading them. Remember the plastic bag tax it was 15c, it did what it was supposed to do stop people using bags once and disposing of them. It did its job so well the revenue dropped, so they put it up to maintain their income. They will do the same with water. Telecom Eireann is an example of how taxpayers money was spent to build up a system to be then sold off, again Irish Water will be the same when we have all the pipework done at our expense then they will sell it off. Why do you think they are setting it up as a utility company rather than a rate or tax. No this is not about refusing to pay a reasonable charge it is about not being stitched up again fool me once and all that.
Posted on: Mon, 03 Nov 2014 09:56:47 +0000