Sir, – Reading the plethora of letters from readers slating Irish Water, one could be forgiven for thinking that Ireland was an otherwise well-run country with Singaporean efficiency and Swiss neatness.
In fact, the daily conduct and aspirations of the average citizen are broadly reflective of the body politic and its progeny, Irish Water.
We moan about traffic and delays but jaywalk, ignore junction boxes and drive in bus lanes. We lament the poor quality of water and the blight on the landscape from turbines and pylons, but allow ugly one-off houses with septic tanks polluting the groundwater. We crib about taxes and young people struggling to buy houses but demand loose credit and resist efficient land-use taxes.
Now we grudgingly accept charges for water but demand allowances and credits for all and sundry and then complain the system is complicated and requires our PPS numbers. After decades ignoring the high salaries and generous pensions of employees in monopolistic semi-State companies, whose unions then demanded slices of company equity, we are suddenly exercised, with a Tea Party-like fervour, by remuneration in this new utility .
I could go on, but I would just ask these newly emerged experts on water treatment and corporate management why they are surprised by any of this? – Yours, etc,
MATTHEW GLOVER,
Lucan,
Co Dublin.
Sir, – Writing in the October 9th edition of the London Review of Books, James Meek has this to say about the water supply in the English town of Thanet (the target seat for the Ukip leader Nigel Farage in the British general election in 2015): "Thanet's water supply and drainage system belong to Southern Water, which is owned by a consortium of Hong Kong investment funds and Australian and Canadian Pension funds, advised by an American and a Swiss merchant bank. Sewage spills by Southern regularly force the closure of Thanet beaches".
The future for “Irish” Water? – Yours, etc,
JIM SMYTH,
Belfast.
Sir, – As part of our bailout conditions, the Government was required to begin charging for water in order to make additional significant contributions towards paying back the loans.
Government spin-doctoring has been trying hard to make us believe that water should be conserved. If we conserve this “product”, the vendors (Irish Water) won’t make any significant profit on what they’re selling, and the company will contribute little towards the loan repayments.
I appeal to all Irish patriots to use as much water as you possibly can to help with performance-related pay, a fancy head office building, new PR consultants to better communicate the spin, high-tech meters and the ongoing maintenance thereof, bill collection, employee pension contributions, Irish Waters’s likely imminent rebranding, etc.
Perhaps then, after the huge running costs are deducted, if there is any profit after the first decades of Irish Water’s existence, some loan repayments will be made. – Yours, etc,
LAURENCE HOGAN,
Dublin 14.