Hogan defends water charges
The Minister for the Environment is defending the introduction of water charges.
Phil Hogan attended the announcement of the creation of 400 jobs by Irish Water this morning as the company prepares to begin charging households for water.
Irish Water expects to start hiring immediately to begin the installation of hundreds of thousands of water meters in homes across the country.
Minister Hogan said that water metering is a must in order to provide a quality service and he said people are willing to contribute to the country's recovery.
"People do actually want to make a contribution to our economic recovery they know that water is a very expensive and finite resource
"It is costing €1bn in taxes already in order to treat water so it's not free no matter what way you think
"We are extending the water charges next year to include people on pubic supplies in residential areas."
