The Irish Water debacle is certainly one for the books, featuring as a test case on ‘How to shove an unwanted utility down a country’s throat.’
Further controversy surrounding the moribund utility has arisen today, as Fianna Fail TD Barry Cowen seems to once again confirm that the issue of Irish Water is ‘red line’, meaning Fianna Fail will no enter into any coalition government unless both the charges and the company itself are put to sleep.
He said “Our position on Irish Water is in our manifesto. We haven’t entered any negotiations yet,”
“Our manifesto contains more pages than the section on water charges.”
Last week, Mr. Cowen said in two occasions that his party will insist on commitments made regarding water charges (i.e., scrapping Irish Water and suspending charges for at least five years.)
However, party leader Micheal Martin later appeared to contradict this, and making a somewhat typical U-turn and saying that the charges were not ‘red-line.’
In the meantime, most people have by now reportedly cancelled their direct debits with Irish Water, in light of its doomed future.