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IRISH WATER IS still refusing to disclose how many people have paid their water charges, citing commercial sensitivity and public interest as the reasons for doing so.
The controversial utility has been issuing its first bills to households across the country since the beginning of April.
It has confirmed that as of 18 May this year it has issued 1,282,067 bills to customers. Of these, a total of 788,831 are due for payment having been issued more than 14 days previous to 18 May.
The information was revealed to the Anti-Austerity Alliance TD Paul Murphy in response to a Freedom of Information Request.
But the utility refused Murphy’s request for details on the number of bills paid as of 18 May, citing commercial sensitivity as well as concerns about the impact on Irish Water’s “ordinary course of business”.
He raised the matter in the Dáil earlier this month, prompting heated exchanges in which the Taoiseach told Murphy to “toddle along” to a meeting between Irish Water and Oireachtas members to find out how many bills had been paid.
When he was refused the information at that meeting, the Dublin South-West TD submitted an FOI.
In his response to Murphy, Noel Shannon, the FOI officer at Irish Water’s parent company Ervia, said:
Releasing information relating to bill payment rates even before all bills have been issued is clearly premature and would unduly impact upon Irish Water’s ordinary course of business.
Shannon also revealed that the public interest was best served by not releasing the information:
In my view the most important public interest at issue is that Irish Water be afforded the opportunity to operate as a high performing commercial utility company and to bring about reform of Ireland’s water sector, on behalf of all the Irish people.
“Therefore I believe that the public interest is best served in this instance by not releasing the information requested in the third and final part of your FOI request,” he said.
Murphy told TheJournal.ie today that he intended to appeal the ruling and described Irish Water’s response as “incredible”.
He said: “One reason Irish Water refuses to give the information is that it is commercially sensitive. This is simply not credible, given that Irish Water has a monopoly and is not in competition with any other company who could take advantage of the figures.
“The most ridiculous reason given is the suggestion that the ‘public interest is best served … by not releasing the information….’ Irish Water and the government were very quick to give a running total on registration rates for water charges when they thought it suited them to do so.
Irish Water and the water charges has been the subject of massive public controversy and the Anti-Austerity Alliance and others have called for people to refuse to pay. It is self-evident, that it is in the interest of the public to see what level of people have paid.
He said it was likely that payment levels are so low that if published they would give confidence to others to refuse to pay.
Murphy added: “It also explains the government’s bluff, trying to scare people with the suggestion that they can introduce legislation to take the water charges from people’s income, when they simply legally will not be able to do so without court cases.”
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Lovely thoughts and nicely written.
Thanks for your honesty. Both of my parents passed away in the past couple of years…one to cancer, the other suddenly with a heart attack. We must move on…and move on we do. But we will be OK if we take our time and grieve well. Congratulations on making it through the first year after your loss, and may your grief continue to ease with time.
Who would honestly redthumb this comment.
I’d recommend leaving a journal behind and doing one or more video messages, if you know you’re dying or at risk of it. Its all in how they say their goodbyes to u and what tone that leaves.
This is how I did it. started the journal as if it was a biography, going back as far as I could remember.
I put all my political musings and policy ideas into a separate one that if I come out OK I can turn into a book or something
An aunts funeral not long before got me wondering what way I’d want that done. So I wrote a will, laying out s secular memorial no church,
It used to irritate me to see generic catch all prayers and vague Eulogy’s not specific to the person. So I picked a friend who is like the brother I never had to do the eulogy.
For the video message I got a haircut n metrosexual spit polish, a 9 hour sleep, picked a nice A&F sweater, jeans n shirt doing my best to look like I normally do n less of a pale tired burnout and made a video in the present tense talking to the memorial service. Made some joking refs to the family myths around death, said hi to the priest I knew sisters would bring to do a blessing despite the secular nature of the event, and said my goodbyes. Body language is relaxed and informal like I’m sitting in the room with them. I figured that way their last memory isn’t seeing me laying motionless (however peaceful) in the casket but sitting on a sofa in my nicer clothes smiling and alive, I think its a nicer memory to leave them with.
I could only hope to be so brave. You remind me of my mother.
I wish you, your kitty and your family all the very best x
I lost my aunt some years ago who was like a mother to me she died suddenly in st James hospital I was devastated, my whole world fell apart, then 5 years ago my dad died of lung cancer, he was my knight in shining armour, you never get over a loved one passing on you just learn to cope with it, and know they are happy and pain free..
Thank you for sharing. ..yes life does go on and in time pain, loss, gets a bit easier to deal with and im sure your husband is loving every second of your new found happiness in life …
Beautiful piece
The new fella could do with getting those teeth sorted out.
Beautiful writing so lovely and gentle choice of language.
To parents who lost a child, that is to say the toughest grief my advice is take a moment at a time when your alone and deal with their memory and loss. Then fufil your day with plenty of tender loving care.
To children who lose a parent , you don’t have the words to express how you feel. But if your sad and not in form to do much tell people I am sad. Mammy or Daddy is gone away. To the adult let the child express the emotions and if it has been a traumatic event that caused the death talk to Barnardo’s they give excellent advice.
To the surviving sister, brother, son or daughter. You must grieve because grieving is a process of letting go and honouring the person who is gone with tears of admiration. Take your time set your own pace and don’t rush it.
To all people grieving this article is excellent but allow yourself to live again when your raw emotions heal it normally can take uo to two years. For cancer deaths there is the awe stage of grieving and it can be confusing because you might have delayed onset of grief this is quite normal.
Best treatment is to talk about the person gone. Some day you will think of them and not cry but move on to a better acceptance their gone.
nice but “jameson” as a baby boys name?
Lost both parents to brain tumours; my dad in 1998 and my mum in 2010. After my own dad’s death, whatever my own mum did afterwards, I respected and supported everything she did that kept her happy. After her own death four years ago, it started a long journey to move forward. There was no denying that I changed in certain ways and it wasn’t easy. There were things that I didn’t have the same enjoyment for as I previously did and there was a reluctance to do some things as it just would have brought back memories. I also developed new routines that would keep me positive. In the last year, I started to once again enjoy some things I used to do, but doing it in a different way. I may never have forgotten but in my own ways, I’ve moved on. It’s a journey that requires a lot of patience and understanding and every day is a new day, every step taken is a goal and every bridge crossed is an extension of a journey. The only person who knows when they are ready is oneself.
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