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29th Nov 2015

Restaurants, pubs and cafés to charge €1… for TAP WATER

Katie Mythen-Lynch

If paying your domestic water charges gets your goat, you’re going to love this. 

Restaurants are planning to pass on their commercial rate increases to customers next year by charging €1 for a glass of Ireland’s finest filtered tap water.

According to Adrian Cummins, CEO of the Restaurants’ Association of Ireland, the charge is “only fair”.

He told the Sunday Independent: “Businesses are going to get hit with the cost so we need to look at how to recoup that cost and we feel a small charge on good quality tap water is a fair and equitable way of doing it,”

“We’re not like the households where you pay a flat fee, you pay per consumption so the more you consume the more you pay. We have to educate consumers,”

Dermott Jewell, policy advisor at the Consumer Association of Ireland disagrees. He believes that the move will backfire:

“It’s a bad charge, it’s poorly thought out and it’s going to hurt them.” he said.

Are you happy to pay €1 for a glass of tap water at your local cafe or favourite restaurant? Let us know on Twitter @HerFamilydotie. 

Topics:

Water charges