The CEO of Irish Water’s parent company has admitted the utility has ’come up short’ in explaining how the charge is run.
Ervia chief Michael McNicholas says the ‘failure’ to explain the ‘need’ for a water charge - and an overhaul of water infrastructure - was made worse by poor explanation about the costs involved.
He was speaking at a debate on the Irish Water saga at the MacGill Summer School in Co Donegal - where Environment Minister Alan Kelly came in for criticism for dropping out because of a diary clash.
Ervia's Michael McNicholas says much more could have been done to allay public fears:"We came up short as well. We could have been clearer about how unfit the water infrastructure is. How much was needed to be done to fix that infrastructure.
"We could have explained much better how we set up Irish Water in the first place.
"How we took some of the greatest young Irish talent and built a new modern Irish utility from scratch in 18 months, at less than half the cost of the international benchmarks.
"Instead of that, it has been characterised as lavish spending on consultants."