As the latest deadline for registration with Irish Water looms, the Government has been busy drafting new laws to ensure that the hated utility gets their money’s worth from people.
Today, the new legislation will enable the company to collect unpaid bills from people’s wages, pensions, or any welfare benefits they may have. Justice Minister Frances Fitzgerald has produced the Civil Debt Bill, which allows for attachment orders for debts between 500 and 4,000.
There have been swift reactions from the Anti-Austerity camp; Ruth Coppinger TD has said that such legislation “would not deal with the hundreds of thousands of people who are refusing to pay the charge.”
Irish Water still staunchly refuse to say how many people have actually paid their bill thus far.