If Irish Water is the Government’s Titanic, Irish people are certainly its jagged iceberg.
Minister for the Environment Alan Kelly was in fighting form today, proclaiming with undisguised hubris that those who collect the so-called water conservation grant but do not pay their bill will face a raft of penalties. He actually repeated the word “penalties” three times, presumably for dramatic effect.
He said.””People who register, get their €100, and don’t pay their water bills will end up paying more, because the legislation has been passed by my colleague Frances Fitzgerald,”
“They will pay penalties, and penalties, and penalties.
Nevertheless, the fact remains that less than half the liable customers have actually paid their bill, and Eurostat recently administered the coup-de-grace to the frankly embarrassing and leaky mess that is Irish Water.
A mass demonstration is planned for this Saturday in Dublin.