Sir, – Do I detect a u-turn in the pipeline? – Yours, etc,
FRANK BYRNE,
Terenure,
Dublin 6W.
Sir, – So John Tierney admits that he and his organisation have made mistakes. Might this affect the bonuses they will award themselves this year? – Yours, etc,
BRENDAN CHAPMAN,
Booterstown,
Co Dublin.
A chara, – Is it now a case of the more they dig the more the water keeps rising? – Is mise,
JOHN GLENNON,
Hollywood,
Co Wicklow.
Sir, – Will a duck now have to pay for what comes off its back? Isn’t it time for the State to quack off? – Yours, etc,
Dr JAMES FINNEGAN,
Letterkenny,
Co Donegal.
A chara, – Despite their belated contrition, Government figures still seem to think that the fault lies with the people – we are confused and uncertain and don’t understand what’s going on. At the next general election, which will come much sooner than the Government thinks, the people will show the Coalition exactly how clear and determined we actually are. – Is mise,
SIMON O’CONNOR,
Crumlin,
Dublin 12.
Sir, – Over 800,000 households have registered with Irish Water. Is that not a stronger message than 100,000 individuals on the streets? – Yours, etc,
ROBERT PERRYMAN,
Ranelagh,
Dublin 6 .
Sir, – Attempts to justify performance bonuses and higher payscales in Irish Water by comparison to the pay structure in other utilities such as Bord Gáis (now Ervia) are entirely unjustified. Irish Water has no claim to the commercial status enjoyed by Bord Gáis and other utilities. Its assets (the current water system) have been sourced by law from the local authorities without compensation, Irish Water staff are paid by the taxpayer and (from 2015) by householders who will have no choice of water service provider. It will even be allowed charge more for less water if its customer base economises. It is an absolute monopoly, both by law and as the sole supplier of an essential service, and is not a commercial entity at all in any meaningful sense, and its staff should therefore be subject to the same terms and conditions as other public servants in non-commercial companies.
Other utility suppliers are in very different and competitive markets. Take Bord Gáis (Ervia) as an example. There are alternative sources of heating, such as electricity and solid fuel, so its customer base has a real choice. Even gas supplies can be sourced from an alternative provider. There’s no plan to have alternative water suppliers. Bord Gáis acquired much of the gas network from many small private gas companies in dire financial straits, culminating in the takeover of the bankrupt Dublin Gas company in 1987. It did not get a working network as a free gift from the state. Even much-criticised CIÉ faces competition from private operators, cars and internal flights. There are no companies comparable to Irish Water against which pay scales can be measured. Its absolute monopoly of an essential service is unique and places it firmly in the sphere of a central government service such as state education or the police force and not in a competitive commercial environment. Its pay structure should reflect this. – Yours, etc,
DONAL McGRATH,
Greystones, Co Wicklow.
Sir, – Today I received a letter from Irish Water which confirmed that “we have received your Irish Water application form”. I’m sure the same letter has gone out or will go out to all the compliant householders in the State. But we did not apply to Irish Water. We were subjected to a compulsory registration. Apparently Irish Water is as insensitive in the composition of its correspondence as it was in the articles of its foundation. – Yours, etc,
PETER CONLON,
Drumree,
Co Meath.
Sir, – Some claim that the general public will be double-taxed when the charges come in. This is something hundreds of thousands of rural dwellers in Ireland have put up with for years. I am a taxpayer, I have a private well and spend hundreds a year on its upkeep. This well initially cost thousands to install. Unlike Irish Water and the local authorities, my well and the other hundreds of thousands of wells in rural Ireland do not require an army of administration staff, engineers and technicians to look after. These people, especially the elected representatives, calling for the charges to be hoicked on to the general tax system would do well to remember that there are considerably larger numbers of people than the approximately 130,000 that marched last weekend who need to be taken into consideration before spouting populist rhetoric. – Yours, etc,
ROBERT SHAUGHNESSY,
Kells,
Co Meath.
Sir, – Could someone please explain why the privatisation of water services would be such a bad thing? Water services were privatised in England and Wales in 1989 and, despite teething problems in the early years, the results for consumers have been entirely positive.
According to the Water Services Regulation Authority, which was established to monitor the privatised service, investment in the water system doubled virtually overnight and water quality has increased consistently every year since 1996. The increased investment has allowed a reduction in leaks which has saved enough water to serve 10 million homes annually, a staggering 20 per cent of the entire demand. While bills for consumers rose in the early years of privatisation, overall between 1989 and 2013 the price of water rose at less than the rate of inflation, meaning that the real cost of water to consumers actually fell during that period.
The scaremongering about privatisation is based a bankrupt ideology that should have been consigned to history along with the Berlin Wall. But it is certainly not based on facts. – Yours, etc,
THOMAS RYAN,
Dublin 6W.