July 2016 7 9
Joe O'Toole
Former independent Senator (1987 to 2011), General
Secretary of the Irish National Teachers' Organisation
(1990-2001), and President of the Irish Congress of
Trade Unions (2001-3) who discussed water charges
with the Examiner in early July, claiming he was a
strong supporter of the ‘polluter pays’ principle, which
is backed by the Fine Gael government and the EU.
He has strong views on left-wing campaigners, who
want charges scrapped and services paid for through
general taxation: “I find it extraordinary that people
who present themselves as being left-wing politicians
are opposed to things like property tax, are opposed to
polluter pays, are of a view that if you have two or three
cars and a swimming pool you should be paying the
same water tax as somebody next door", he said.
Asked if the likes of AAA-PBP TD Paul Murphy was
“wrong” on their stance on water charges, O’Toole
said: “Completely and utterly wrong on the issue, that
it is fair in society that people with three cars and a
swimming pool pay the same water tax as someone, a
person who is barely struggling on a minimum wage".
He said he believed the commission's role was to "find
a solution that will have enough sugar to make the
medicine go down easily".
So far, so good.
The problem is he was independent chairperson of
the new water charges expert commission and should
have zipped it on where he stood on water. He also
unwisely said: "There are bundles of money in this
country at the moment trying to find a home".
July 2016

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