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State of the Nation: Why Irish Water bonuses have TDs worried about their seats

Here’s everything you need to know about what’s happening in Irish politics right now…

EACH WEEKDAY MORNING, TheJournal.ie brings you a comprehensive guide to what’s happening in the political world.

Everyone’s talking about…

It’s the story that just won’t die for the government as revelations about bonuses at Irish Water dominate the headlines this morning and are set to lead the political agenda this week.

File Pics Irish Water to spend 85m on consultants by 2015. Irish Water boss John Tierney is under pressure this morning. Laura Hutton / Photocall Ireland Laura Hutton / Photocall Ireland / Photocall Ireland

While the government has been fighting fires on Irish Water and water charges for sometime now, the issue is set to become even more troublesome in the weeks and months ahead as nervous backbenchers worry that the ongoing issues around the new semi-state will threaten their re-election chances.

A view is now taking shape in the public’s mind that the establishment of Irish Water has been botched and there is bonus culture at the company. That’s a view that will be extremely hard to change in the run-up to the next election.

The agenda… 

What the others are saying… 

  • Nearly all the papers feature the Irish Water bonuses story on their front pages. 
  • Sinn Féin has a culture of ‘omerta’, Fianna Fail’s Micheál Martin told the annual Wolfe Tone Commemoration in Kildare yesterday, according to the Irish Independent
  • Immigration has been good for Ireland as it has “expanded our gene pool” and resulted in better-looking and taller children, the Irish Times reports Fine Gael TD Olivia Mitchell as saying. 

In case you missed it… 

Video TheJournal.ie / YouTube

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