THE political debate over whether everybody should pay for water may still be raging, but Irish people appear to have no problems about buying it.

Last year consumers bought 40 million litres of the bottled stuff, according to a survey by trade magazine Shelflife. The figure is up from 16 million litres just six years ago.

The survey says Irish consumption of 11.5 litres per head is still less than the British consumption of 14 litres.

However, both countries are trailing well behind the Italians in the bottled water consumption stakes. They drink 118 litres of bottled water per year.