Irish Water leaking all credibility

WHILE there might be a water shortage, if there is ever a shortage of brass we need look no further than the necks of Irish Water bosses.

While they have been threatening people with fines for wasting the resource it has emerged their own firm loses half of its entire supply through leaks before it ever gets to taps.

It is not the public but this errant company that should be facing penalties for having the worst leakage rate in Western Europe.

When challenged on the disgraceful waste, Irish Water complains it inherited an antiquated mains system that has been starved of investment for decades.

The fact is much of the pipe network was put in place when the British were in this country and some of it has not been updated since.

This is the fault of past governments that refused to invest in infrastructure and not the public who paid for water through their taxes.

It is estimated it would take €13billion to upgrade the mains network – but it could have been fixed five times over if the cash had not been flushed down the drain to save the banks.

Irish Water also seems to forget it blew €500million installing meters outside homes which will never be needed when this money could have been used to fix the leaks.

While the public must do everything possible to conserve supplies Irish Water would do well to follow their example.