Irish Water stats seen as ‘worthless’ by TD Paul Murphy

Irish Water stats seen as ‘worthless’ by TD Paul Murphy

Controversial utility company Irish Water has claimed that 61% of households are now compliant in paying water charges compared to 55% at the end of the last billing cycle. The company has said that 928,000 people have paid some or all of their bills. This, they claim, is an increase of almost 100,000 since the last bills were issued in October.

Florence White, head of media relations for Irish Water’s parent company, Ervia, says this indicates a consistant increase in people who are willing to pay: “61% of Irish Water customers, that’s 928,000 customers, have paid all or part of their bills and that’s an increase of 98,000 customers over the last billing cycle.” Ms White then went on to say: “I suppose the important thing to think about is the revenue from those customers who are paying, and we have in excess of €110m in revenue today.”

In a statement released on their website, Irish Water say this revenue will help as part of a plan to invest over €500 in the improvment of Ireland’s water services, including drinking water and wastewater and the repair of the aging infrastructure.

However Anti Austerity Alliance TD Paul Murphy dismissed the figures as a ‘spin cycle’ and claimed that “trying to establish an accurate figure from Irish Water’s statement is extremely difficult.” In a facebook post the anti-water TD said: “They simply provide the figure that 928,000 people have paid at least some of their bill. That figure is utterly worthless – because it includes those who paid the first bill and then joined non-payment, and those who paid the first and second bill and then joined non-payment.”

“While Irish Water claims that 98,000 people paid bills for the first time in the third billing period, they don’t tell us how many who had previously paid stopped paying. Therefore, we simply don’t know whether the number who paid the third bill increased or decreased, or what percentage paid.” Mr Murphy also urged people to continue the mass protest of non payment to attend the next Right2Water protest which is to take place on Saturday January 23rd in Dublin.

Since its establishment in 2013, Irish Water has been at the centre of numerous controversies which have proven to be a massive headache for the Fine Gael/Labour government.  From accusations of excessive consultant’s fees, water meter protests, political policing, the implementation of performance-related bonuses for employees to the €55,000 cost of setting up a gym in its headquarters in Talbot Street, Irish Water has been accused of behaving like a private company. In fact, many observers are worried that the government’s apparent refusal to ensure Irish Water’s place as a public utility company means that privatisation at a future date is inevitable.

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