Sir, - There is really no need for Mary Harney to tell us that water must be paid for. We already know that it must be paid for, and we do pay for it through our taxes. The objection of many people to water charges is based on their belief that these charges are a form of double taxation.
If the PDs argue that, since we pay directly for gas and electricity, we should also pay directly for water, how long will it be before they apply the same argument to education - including primary schools? If they want to charge directly for the water that children wash in, then why not charge directly for their education as well?
Water charges, or water metering, are just PD euphemisms for water tax. And if they get their way on this one, there will be many more such creatively named taxes to follow. - Yours, etc.,
Roselawn,
Lucan,
Co Dublin.