FORMER DUBLIN MAYOR Royston Brady has claimed that people who fail to pay their water charges “don’t get out of their pyjamas from one day until the next”.
Brady, who now works as a hotel manager in Miami, also accused Sinn Féin of tapping into the disaffection of voters who “expect everything for nothing”.
The potshot came in an interview on RTÉ’s Today With Sean O’Rourke show, during which he was asked about calls to scrap Irish Water.
The ex-Fianna Fáil councillor responded: “There are always three-quarters of people at home that will pay these things and they’re the ones that are out working every day of the week.”
The other section “unfortunately” live in areas affected by “generational unemployment”, he said, adding that a “poverty industry” exists in Ireland.
Brady, who dropped out of politics after unsuccessfully contesting the 2004 European elections, told presenter Sean O’Rourke that his family pays the equivalent of around €1,000 a year for water charges in Florida.
“The reality is that you have to pay for water,” he said.
Brady went on to criticise the Irish health system, saying he had a back operation in the US on Monday and was able to be discharged shortly after the procedure.
He claimed he would “probably still be sitting” waiting for treatment in the Mater Hospital in Dublin, by contrast, and that “a prisoner or drug addict from across the road in Mountjoy” would have been “marched in” ahead of him.
Government options
The former mayor also weighed in on the Irish election aftermath, saying he thought Fianna Fáil should be prepared to enter into a coalition with Fine Gael to ensure a stable government.
“I think Fianna Fáil has been given a golden opportunity that they should be very thankful for considering all the water that’s gone under the bridge,” he said.
I’d hate to see them squander that away by sitting on their hands.
He said it was a “terrible indictment” of Irish politics that parties seemed more worried about the next election than forming a government.
Brady also expressed concern that several US presidential candidates had taken aim at American corporations benefiting from Ireland’s lower tax rates.
“When you’ve got guys like Donald Trump stepping up to the microphone and namechecking Ireland as a country where they’re going to stop evasion … that’s going to pose a serious problem for Ireland in the future,” he said.
“The way I always look at Ireland is that sometimes we punch above our weight with the Americans and think we’re this special case but when it comes to money and taxes they’re not going to let up on it,” he added.
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