Here’s a gentle reminder, Mr Tierney, of the mistakes that you’ve made so far
IRISH Water CEO John Tierney apologised for the ‘many mistakes’ he and the new super-quango had made.
Pressed this week by the Irish Mail on Sunday as to what those mistakes were, he said his apology was in response to ‘a number of issues raised in recent months both by customers and in the media’. To help refresh Mr Tierney’s memory further, the MoS has made its own list of spectacular blunders committed by Irish Water and first exposed in this newspaper.
JANUARY 19
LAUGHTER YOGA
We revealed that Irish Water had paid €6,000 for 300 of its workers to attend a teambuilding ‘laughter yoga’ session at Croke Park. The Independent TD for Kildare North, Catherine Murphy, said she was baffled by the news. ‘It beggars belief. Team-building is one thing, but yoga? I wish it were a joke but sadly it’s not.’
JANUARY 26
€7.4m MINI QUANGO
WE disclosed the existence of a €7.4m miniquango that few knew existed. The Water Services Transition Office was apparently set up to aid the changeover of water services from local authorities to Irish Water. The 80 staff included two former county managers who had retired early with pay-off packages of around €300,000 each. Following an outcry, the WSTO has now been largely wound down with just one office and 16 staff.
FEBRUARY 16
JOBS FOR THE BOYS
WE divulged that the Government had cut a secret deal to guarantee 4,300 Irish Water jobs for at least 12 years, even though many of those jobs could be unnecessary. The news prompted former junior minister Fergus O’Dowd, one of four ministers involved in setting up Irish Water, to call for a voluntary redundancy
scheme to reduce costs.
APRIL 27
DODGY METERS
In April, we exposed the fact that most water meters installed by Irish Water were ‘C grade’ and therefore unsuitable for areas where cars might drive over them because of their poor quality casings. Irish Water subsequently began a roll-out of high-quality ‘B grade’ meters.
JULY 6
PRICE HIKES
In July, we published an interview with the energy regulator in which he said that water charges would almost inevitably rise after the initial two-year price cap. This was despite Irish Water continuing to insist that price rises were not inevitable.
JULY 27
€2 PLUGS
We disclosed that campaign groups were encouraging the public to remove their meters and use a €2 plastic plug to keep their water flowing. It represented one of the biggest challenges to the super quango to date and the resistance movement has continued to grow ever since.
SEPTEMBER 28
JOBS FOR THE BOYS
In September, we revealed that 150 people had been appointed to Irish Water without open competition. The staff were recruited from local authorities and took their full public service entitlements with them, despite Irish Water implying that this was not the case.
OCTOBER 19
BONUS CULTURE
We reported that staff at Irish Water would receive their first bonuses in the new year in a move that is likely to cost taxpayers millions. Up to 519 employees could get as much as 19% of their salary in a lump sum – even if awarded a ‘must-improve’ rating. According to Irish Water PR guru Elizabeth Arnett, the extra pay is a ‘performance-related award’ and not a bonus. There is condemnation from all sides.
NOVEMBER 2
EXTRA CHARGES
Last weekend, as tens of thousands protested against water charges across the country, we revealed that the average bill could be as much as €92 higher than the €240 promised by the Government – and even that assumes that the Government’s consumption estimates for children, much lower than in the UK, are accurate.