1. Thursday,6thNovember5.30-8.30pm
AlexanderHotel,41-47FenianStreet,Dublin2
LivingwithLoss:
a free information evening for
the public about bereavement.
This eventiskindly sponsored
by Fanagans.
Enquiries:
01 679 3188
Tuesday, November 4, 2014
pAGE 15«
Rupert Grint
spills the
beans on
tortoise hats
and Viagra
pAGE 10 «
spew-inducing pics of highwire feaT pAGE 3 « pAGE 5 «Teen winked as he knifed his Teacher
Short yak
and sides:
At work with
the donkey
barber
pAGE 6 «
cabinet to row back
on water ‘mistakes’by Luke hoLohan
WEB OF INTRIGUE: Rosie Cole from Phoenix Props decks out
the main entrance to the RDS ahead of Web Summit 2014
which runs from today until Thursday. See Page 4 Picture: PA
THE Government is to revise contro-
versial water charges in the wake of
mass nationwide protests.
Speaking yesterday, Environment
Minister Alan Kelly admitted ‘abso-
lute mistakes’ had been made in the
setting up of Irish Water.
He added: ‘This is the largest utility
company that is ever going to be cre-
ated in the history of the State. The
concept that this could be set up in a
couple of years simply was wrong.’
He said the Government will be
making a number of decisions regard-
ing the company,
including the im-
plementation of
‘modest charges’.
‘They [water
charges] are going
to be changed and I
think they are go-
ing to reflect the
concerns of the
people,’ he said.
Mr Kelly did not
rule out a referendum that would pre-
vent Irish Water from becoming a pri-
vate company. However, he said the
issue could also be dealt with by leg-
islation.
He was joined by Irish Water chief
executive John Tierney yesterday,
who also apologised to customers.
Meanwhile, trade union Unite has
released a report claiming the coun-
try’s fiscal deficit target of 3 per cent
can be reached without the charge.
Regional secretary of the Unite
union Jimmy Kelly condemned the
‘campaign of scaremongering’ fol-
lowing recent protests, saying that,
‘contrary to Government spin’, the
charges were not needed.
‘The removal of water charges will
result in less than 0.3 per cent of GDP
added to the deficit,’ he said, ‘but at
the same time it will promote eco-
nomic growth through higher con-
sumer spending’.
Some 150,000 people turned out at
the weekend na-
tionwide to pro-
test the charges.
Meanwhile, a
Fine Gael coun-
cillor has apolo-
gised for saying
protesters should
collect rain water
while marching
and ‘drink that for
the week’. Cork
city councillor Laura McGonigle
made the remark on her personal
Facebook account.
She said: ‘A suggestion had been
made to me earlier that morning that
as a nation we should not pay for our
water as there was plenty of rain.
‘I was attempting to highlight that
rainwater is not safe for drinking and
costs the State in the region of €1.2bn
per year to treat. I realise that my
comments were open to a misinter-
pretation that I did not intend.’
‘Wrong’: Alan Kelly and John Tierney
delicious
ideas: pick
of the crop
of irish
food books
AHEAD of her guest slot at the Web Summit,
Desperate Housewives star Eva Longoria has
been taking time out to explore Dublin and
cataloguing her adventures on Twitter.
See gometro.ie/eva-dublin for more
Keep Dublin tidy – Please recycle this Metro Herald when you are finished with it