During the boom our unemployment rate dropped below 4%. When you take into account seasonal and frictional unemployment that leaves a very small number of people who are possibly spongers or long term unemployed. I don’t understand why people go on as if they are the cause of all our problems.

sponging water……..in ireland? diddnt know that was possible. NO ONE should be paying for it. Don’t you see what they are doing here?????????? More dividing and conquering and you are too stupid to see it. You are wasting ur energy hating the uneployed for their waiver on the water charges ”dey should have to pay it too” when you should be uniting against these pr#cks in charge. The real ”bottom feeders” in this country are the bankers the bondholders and the govt. They are the ones raping this country not the ”spongers” who are a tiny minority of claimants hugely exagerated in the media and by the govt as a means of scapegoting our problems away from the real culprits.

i find all the dislikes on seans comment here quite funny. As if you can deny those employment figures..

Very well said. You’re right, nobody should be paying for water and now everyone has forgotten that and is giving out about the less fortunate getting away with it, labelling them as spongers when, like you said, it’s only a tiny minority of claimants.

It’s like the people who give out about public sector workers and putting teachers and nurses in the same boat as highly paid bureaucrats or the government. The majority of public sector workers are hard workers who receive an average wage. There’s a minority who are still well over-paid, but it seems most people can’t see that. It’s another perfect example of dividing and conquering.

No-one should be paying for water? How does that work then… No one pumps it, and no-one receives it either? SOMEONE has to pay for it.

Well how has it magically been pumped to our houses so far? Oh wait, it’s already paid for through our taxes.

Exactly my point dumb-arses…. What sort of a moronic comment is “NOONE should pay for it” when everyone already does, no matter how much they use.

ok let me amend that to ‘no one whould pay a water charge because they already pay for it in taxes’. If you agree that people already pay for it then you must be against this charge?

Don’t give them an excuse to wash less!

Who cares what people spend their disposable income on? I think everyone has the right to a few quid to spend how they please. Or do you think anyone on social welfare should be given a house with water, a bed, some heating, a weekly food ration and nothing else?

Her I’ll reply directly for you Rossa:

Where is your reply button Sean?typical.
I don’t recall mentioning those on social welfare? But maybe you have already checked the statistics ?

OK, forget the social welfare. Do you think people on low wages should have to spend it all on water and heating?

“Or do you think anyone on social welfare should be given a house with water, a bed, some heating, a weekly food ration and nothing else?”

Do you think they should be given two ton a week, virtually free housing, assistance with bills, free furnishings and white goods such as a free washing machine every three years?

Well I think everyone has the right to a home, water, clean clothes, food and some entertainment. If some people would rather buy smokes than food or a night out then that’s their choice.

It depends who we’re talking about, lifetime doleys should not have disposable income, they get enough as it is.

Like I mentioned in the thread below, there’s only a very small percentage of welfare spongers. The majority of welfare recipients would work if they could, as you can see from our very low unemployment rate during the boom. It’s not this small minority of people that are costing us a fortune, it’s people on huge wages making terrible decisions regarding our country.

So, who pays for these upgrades?

the same fund that pays for any sort of public service

Me again then.

boo hoo

that’s what taxes should be spent on – things that are socially beneficial. Even you will benefit from an upgraded water network, but I suppose the fact that you have to share these benefits with others annoys your selfish self

If you want to direct your ire somewhere do so at the taxes you pay that go to fund private banking debt.

I agree repairs are part of the solution, how it is undertaken is another question. Meters will help highlight where in the system the leaks are, as there is no visibility of that at the moment. Do you think they should dig up every pipe in the country? With meters we will be able to monitor what the household receives, against what was sent and pinpoint those faults more precisely. This is the more intelligent way of carrying out repairs.

You are also ignoring the problem of consumer wastage. Metering is a simple and fair way of solving the consumer wastage issue.

Here’s a little story… I have a rainwater collector installed on our gutters with an IBC storage tank. I flush our loos and water our garden with that. We use very little mains water and are environmentally conscious. Myself and my husband are both employed and pay all our taxes. My immediate neighbours are both long-term unemployed. Neither have been employed in the 12 years we lived next door. They don’t have a rainwater collector, leave the taps going all winter in case of freeze, and all summer on their plants, or for washing cars & dogs.

So we pay for it, and they pay nothing, even though they use thousands of litres more than us. How is that fair? And how is it sustainable? The best way to encourage everyone to reduce waste is to charge them for it directly rather than indirectly. I refer you to the plastic bag charge for a good example of this in action.

So instead of slagging me off and calling me selfish, how about you engage your brain on this a tiny bit more, and consider the longer term implications of meters.

This is the stupidest argument i’ve ever heard…”I know the poor tend to smoke more than others so they shouldnt get free water” You see Rossa they also tend to spend a LOT less money on other things such as new cars, nice clothes, family holidays, quality food. I would say fags and cheap cans are a lot less than thse things and certainly less than the luxury items middle class people buy for themselves, so why do you begrudge them such a small thing ffs? I think i know the answer: You hate them, see them as inferior and your trying desperately to come up with a reason why they shouldnt be let off something you have to pay. Now instead of putting your efforts into fighting this unfair charge which no one should pay you put them into making sure the people you dont like have to pay it too. The govt is laughing at you. Divide and conquer is so effective in this country because fools like yourself are so full of hatred and it takes very little prodding to have it directed wherever they wish.

Boo to your ignorance and to your hateful comment.

“If folk are poor, they should be given money”

And that doesn’t create a “disincentive” to work?

And the gross wage has already been cut 3 times.

Well said.