With over 90 protests against water charges expected today, Tánaiste and Minister for Social Protection Joan Burton has seemingly tried one last ditch attempt to persuade the public that the proposed water charges will be of benefit. Ms Burton says that all charges will be modest and capped and that the Government is currently examining a “fair price”.
Ms Burton told reporters that a flat rate charge will be available for a period of time, she also claims that it is impossible to have a metered system unless almost all households have a meter.
Ms Burton also believes that the time frame put in place for the implementation of water charges was overly ambitious.
Meanwhile the Minister for Finance Michael Noonan told the press that decisions on just how much people will end up paying for water will be confirmed by the government in the next couple of weeks. Mr Noonan was speaking after Thursday’s meeting of the Economic Management Council which apparently focused on the issues of certainty about what charges people would face in the future and of affordability.
The Governments comments come ahead of numerous planned protests against water charges across the country today, it is expected that tens of thousands of demonstrators are due to take to the streets across the country.