Paul Murphy (Dublin South West, Socialist Party) | Oireachtas source

They said it would not be helpful to do so. Helpful to whom? We then took the advice of the Minister, Deputy Noonan, that if one really wants an answer to a question, one has to submit a freedom of information request. We duly submitted the request, in response to which Irish Water confirmed that by 18 May almost 800,000 bills had passed their pay-by date, although it again refused to say how many had paid and not paid on the grounds that disclosure of the information could reasonably be expected to result in undue disturbance of the ordinary course of business. Could that be because the payment levels are on the floor and disclosure of the figures would undermine the Government's scare campaign and give many others the confidence not to pay?

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