Letter about Irish water -sent to Minister for the Environment

Dear Minister,
I am writing to you about the establishment of Irish Water. In particular about the functions of Irish Water when it is formally established.

Apart from providing and charging for water and waste water services to domestic and commercial customers, I believe it should have a small public provision function also.

In particular:
-the provision of drinking water fonts in public places, especially tourist hotspots and bus/train stations.
-the provision of public toilets in busy public areas.

These are both activities carried out by local authorities in other countries. The absence of these services in Ireland is a poor reflection on our local authorities, but their introduction could be a major public benefit of the new national utility. Apart from providing a necessary service it will save consumers' resources from wastefully purchasing bottled water when they are out and about, thus freeing up cash to purchase more utility giving items. Furthermore, it would be a major PR coup for the new utility if it was seen to provide a visibly better service than the local authorities have. This could go some way to alleviating the disquiet of water rates payers.

Ideally, this would be a substantial network of services in every major town, but even if it was only a handful of facilities, I think it would be worth including it in the new Act.

sincerely