I see they're talking about rebranding Irish Water.

What a fucking brilliant idea – give the company a new name and immediately everyone will pay their bills, simply because it's not Irish Water. 

They seem to be under the impression that Irish Water has a very bad public image, and they're right.  For the couple of years it has been in existence it has limped from one disaster to another.  There have been numerous breaches of the Data Protection Code.  There was the scandal of paying themselves massive bonuses before they had even started work.  There was the huge confusion over what they were going to charge.  There was the fiasco over the "Conservation Grant".  The list just goes on and on.  However it wasn't the name of the company that caused the problems – it was the company itself.  Change the name and everything else stays the same.  Put lipstick on a pig and it's still a pig.

I see that half the population say they are willing to pay for their water.  This is a particularly sad figure as it means that 50% of the population have been sucked into the idea that they've been getting their water for nothing up until now.  They have been paying, and paying heavily via Car Taxes and VAT receipts.

I haven't heard from them in quite a while.  I'm expecting yet another threatening letter from them soon, and if I get one, it will join the others in the bonfire.

I did keep one though as a memento.  I scanned the bottom of it where they have all that tiny printing.  They forget though that scanned images can be enlarged –

So there it is in black and white.  Irish Water is a private company, registration number 530363.  I have no contract with that company and therefore by law it cannot demand money from me.   They can bury their meter outside my house if they like – what goes on outside my property is not my business or concern – but that doesn't entitle them to anything.  As far as I am concerned I still get my water from the County Council and in fact only last month I paid my car tax which was nearly four hundred yoyos.  If I am supposed to be paying Irish Water, then why are they still billing me for car tax when the latter is ring-fenced to pay for my water supply?  They can't have it both ways.

So they can rename Irish Water if they like.  They can call it Acme Water, or Golden Showers or even Fred for all I care.

I'm still going to burn their bills.