Sir, – Joe O’Toole stated the obvious. Everyone has to pay fairly for treated, safe water. This uncomfortable pill must eventually be swallowed. Goaded by Sinn Féin and the People Before Profit/Anti-Austerity Alliance, Fianna Fáil came for, and got, a head. Bravo.
Yet before we all go mad with joy, consider this. Fianna Fáil’s spokesman Barry Cowen has always been definitive on the need to pay for water, eventually. Before the last election, he said, “You bring about a system that is eventually fit for purpose and then you can expect people to make a contribution”.
Meanwhile, Sinn Féin would introduce new taxation measures, including a third rate of tax (48 per cent) for people who earn over €100,000 a year, and raise capital gains tax and capital acquisitions tax to 40 per cent each to fund, among other things, water services. The Socialist Party would use “a financial transaction tax”, according to Ruth Coppinger, to pay for such things as water.
Who will pay the tax? We will. All our political parties are asking us to swallow the pill of paying for water, water pipes and sewage treatment plants.
The latest little tantrum does not change any of that. The Dáil can vote down Irish Water all it likes but don’t be fooled. We will still pay for water. – Yours, etc,
BARRY KEANE,
Cork.
Sir, – So our pseudo-socialist defenders of private property believe that the ideal chair for the commission on the future of water charges is somebody who has so little interest in public affairs that she or he has no view on the right way to fund our water supply? Not a bit of it. If Joe O’Toole had declared himself in favour of abolition, we would not have heard a word from them. – Yours etc,
TIM JACKSON,
Dún Laoghaire,
Co Dublin.
A chara, – Joe O’Toole, in an attempt to defend his pre-emptive statements regarding funding for water, used the analogy that questioning his fitness to chair the commission was equivalent to questioning a person’s ability to referee a football match because they can’t take a penalty. That is not at all accurate. Following his declaration that he firmly believes that individuals should pay for water per usage, and that those who oppose that view were “completely and utterly wrong”, having Mr O’Toole chair this commission would have been the equivalent of Kerry running out at Croke Park to face Dublin only to see the ref wearing his Dubs jersey.
Mr O’Toole had to go; however, he could have chosen to step down with more dignity than he did.
Regardless of who is chosen to chair the commission now, it is quite clear that this is nothing more than a waste of time and money and is a feeble attempt to dupe the public into accepting the right-wing concept of the commodification and privatisation of drinking water.
It will not succeed. – Is mise,
SIMON O’CONNOR,
Crumlin,
Dublin 12.
Sir, – If having an opinion either for or against water charges, and being honest about it, means that one cannot be an impartial chairman, then it will be impossible to find a replacement for Joe O’Toole, as the whole population is polarised.
Are we to expect a new appointment of an individual who won’t be asked their stand on the matter? Would that not fatally contaminate the work of the commission? – Yours, etc,
RICHARD D NOLAN,
Cratloe, Co Clare.
Sir, – Your report "O'Toole blames Fianna Fáil for his resignation" (July 6th) demonstrates that Mr O'Toole suffers from the Irish disease of looking for someone else to blame. When he said he favoured water charges, he demonstrated a clear bias in the matter on which he was to adjudicate. Surely he has no one to blame but himself. – Yours, etc,
TOM O’ROURKE,
Gorey, Co Wexford.
Sir, – Why do people on public service duties not realise that their private opinions should be kept private? Once an opinion is aired publicly it is no longer a private opinion. It is completely unnecessary for any public servant to air his or her private opinion in public when serving on a Government body that has decision-making or advisory powers. – Yours, etc,
AOIFE LORD,
Tankardstown,
Co Meath.