The issue of water charges continues to convulse the political system and threaten the waning authority of Fine Gael. Former ICTU president and newly appointed chairman of the Water Commission Joe O'Toole has been forced to resign because Fianna Fáil threatened to withhold all co-operation from the minority Government on water and related issues if he remained.
Having unwisely expressed a personal opinion in favour of water charges, Mr O’Toole insisted he would be impartial and open-minded in the role of chairman. It didn’t matter. Fianna Fáil wanted his head and Fine Gael reluctantly delivered.
The former independent senator and general secretary of the INTO has been no stranger to controversy. He once famously - and accurately - described the government benchmarking agreement on public service pay as an ATM machine for teachers.
That arrangement cost the State €1.1billion a year, with little return in promised productivity. This week, he criticised the Anti-Austerity Alliance position on water charges on ideological grounds; favoured charges and the ‘polluter pays’ principle and drew demands from Fianna Fail and Sinn Féin for his resignation.
The deal underpinning the minority Government requires the suspension of water charges for nine months; the establishment of a Water Commission to propose a sustainable funding model, including the financing of large scale projects; with its report to be adjudicated on by an Oireachtas Committee.
This complicated fudge, constructed by Fine Gael and Fianna Fail at the heart of government, amounts to a time-buying exercise. At some stage, a decision for or against household charges will have to be made.
It was hoped the Commission might introduce a note of financial realism into public discourse. Little chance of that now. Sinn Féin demanded Mr O'Toole's resignation because of his 'bias', even as Gerry Adams favoured a Water Commission that would be prohibited from recommending charges.
And when the European Commission ruled that Ireland could not abolish charges, Micheál Martin said he would proceed on the basis of pre-election commitments.