Government continues to waste public money on Irish Water

The news that the State has just handed over €270 million of public money to Irish Water is one more episode in the long-running fiasco of the Irish Water company.

At a time when there is an on-going crisis in our hospitals, an on-going crisis in mental health and an ever worsening housing and homelessness crisis, this is a shameful waste of the people’s money. It all stems from the original disastrous decision to introduce water charges with a view to eventual privatisation of water services.

Bríd Smith TD stated: “This shows the urgent need, as People Before Profit has repeatedly said, to establish a National Coordinating body to work with local authorities to oversee the supply of water and the effective maintenance and repair of the water infrastructure in a coherent fashion.

“Water is a necessity of life and a basic human right. Irish Water is a failed institution incapable of guaranteeing that right; it should be phased out without loss of jobs to its workers and replaced with a body that is fit for purpose. The government is failing chronically in its responsibility in this regard.”

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