Despite the multiple millions squandered on consultancy fees and other wasteful efforts, Irish Water has admitted today to providing sub-standard equipment that does not comply with Government-set technical standards.
The doomed utility has stated that the containers for household water meters are sub-par. The so-called “boundary boxes” are meant to meet “Grade B” specifications, but the ones supplied by Irish Water only meet “Grade D”. In other words, they are cheaper versions that are not fit for purpose.
Yet, despite the open admission, Irish Water’s spokesperson Jerry Grant has dismissed any concerns about the company’s poor quality equipment.
He said: “We’ve also had an independent load testing carried out on the Grade C surface box, which has been proved to withstand loads of more than two tonnes, and as part of the tests a stone was placed on the surface box and a standard car tyre used to impose the load on the stone.
“The result of that test was that the car tyre deformed around the stone and came into contact with the surface box, the test was abandoned when we were afraid that the tyre would actually explode.”