Outgoing Taosieach Enda Kenny has today advised citizens to pay their water bills, irrespective of the short future for Irish Water.
Mr. Kenny said today that ‘people should pay their bills’, and his words were echoed by Minister for Agriculture Simon Coveney, who said “We believe it was the right thing to do to set up a single utility company. It was the right thing to do to set up a fair charging system to contribute towards a big investment to fixing our water problems. That is still our view.
“We stand over a fair charging system.”
The future of Irish Water and water charges in general is currently in jeopardy, as Fianna Fáil said that scrapping the charges is a ‘red line’ issue for them, if they are to agree on any coalition government with Fine Gael.
It also emerged today that people who have already paid their bills will not get a refund. It’s also expected that the level of compliance at the next bill round will drop drastically, in view of the latest controversy involving Irish Water.