Irish Water may find itself in hot water yet again as staff at the utility company are seemingly demanding a pay rise. The news comes after a previous agreement which saw a seven-year pay freeze imposed when the utility company was created is expected to expire next January.
The move by the company’s staff has come at a bad time for the much hated company as they have already racked up a debt of €850m in operating costs. It is highly believed that staff at the state ran utility will demand a 2.5% increase to their current salaries, the call for the increase comes after similar utilities such as Coillte and ESB have called for 2% across-the-board.
The news will most likely not be welcomed by the Environment Minister Alan Kelly who recently revealed that the utility has been granted permission by the state to borrow a further €550m from commercial banks in order to cover their debt.
However the Environment Minister refused to reveal the new interest rates on the borrowings, claiming commercial sensitivity reasons.