Today, July 4th 2016, an interview with the chairperson of the recently established water charges commission was carried in the Irish Examiner. http://www.irishexaminer.com/ireland/water-charges...

Joe O'Toole was appointed to chair this group, whose role is to consider options for the funding of the country's water supply. This comes after mass non-payment led to a tacit acknowledgment by the government that it could not force an unwilling population to pay such an unpopular charge; charges were suspended and this process was initiated.

O'Toole, however, shows in this interview that he is far from an objective and dispassionate broker. He is reported as saying:
- he favours paying household charges;
- that the Revenue Commissioners could be deployed to collect water charges;
- that anti-water-charges campaigners such as Paul Murphy TD are "completely and utterly wrong on the issue"

He furthermore implied that the principle of "the polluter pays" ought to be applied to water, as though the use of drinking water was a form of pollution!

We the undersigned consider it clear that Joe O'Toole cannot be considered a fair-minded and impartial chairperson of this commission. We call on Joe O'Toole to immediately resign his position, and should he fail to do so we call on the relevant minister, Simon Coveney, to dismiss him.