Sir, – I received notification today from the Department of Social Protection concerning the application for €100 water conservation grant. The only option provided was to claim (or not claim!) the grant for which I had registered.
Of those who wish or feel compelled to pay their water bills, many, though not all, would no doubt wish to utilise this payment to pay their water bills.
Why did the Minister and relevant department not use this opportunity simply to allow claimants to authorise the assignment of this payment to Irish Water as a credit against preset or future bills rather than have to go to the bother of claiming it and then having to go to the further trouble of paying the bill? It would have been so easy to offer the choice of a simple assignment, would have facilitated very many people, would have encouraged payment and been of considerable benefit to cash flow for Irish Water, given that most bills are far less than the amount of the said grant!
Irish Water and the Department of the Environment seem determined to seize every single opportunity to indulge in additional administration, with all the attendant costs. It seems that common sense is still not at all common where Irish Water is concerned! – Yours, etc,
E DILLON,
Farranshone,
Limerick.