The Irish Water affair must be one of the biggest and most shameful shambles the State has had the displeasure of enduring in living memory.
New figures just released, supposedly the final ones, specify that a one-adult household will be billed at €60 and all other households will receive a €160 yearly bill.
Both figures include the new €100 Water Services Support Grant, paid out by the Department of Social Welfare to all households that register with Irish Water.
According to the new package of measures, the first bill won’t arrive until April, and it will cover the previous 3 months.
Households with a meter installed might even pay less, if the amount of water used is less than the capped value.
Also, the semi-state entity that holds the key to the Cabinet’s self-made demise, Irish Water, will no longer be allowed to collect citizens’ PPS numbers.
Ministers met up this morning to discuss these latest round of figures and also the increased level of popular resistance and hostility.
In what could very easily be this administration’s swan song, the charges will be rubber stamped tomorrow.