Should water charges be abolished?

Domestic water charges were introduced in 2015 for Irish homes that are connected to a public water supply or to public wastewater services. Irish Water, the national water utility, administers the water charges. However, the Water Services (Amendment) Act 2016 suspended the issuing of domestic water bills for the second quarter of 2016. It also suspended domestic water charges for 9 months, from 1st July 2016 to 31st March 2017, with no charging or billing of domestic customers during that period. This suspension has been extended for a further 4 months by the Water Services Act (Extension of Suspension of Domestic Water Charges Order 2017).