Irish Water and boil-water notice

Sir, – Why is it when many people are prepared to pay a few euro for a single cup of coffee or a plastic bottle of water, that we collectively cannot be persuaded to pay for something as fundamental to life as a safe water supply? – Yours, etc,

AIDAN RINGROSE,

Laytown,

Co Meath.

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Sir, – My lexicon now includes "turbidity" (News, November 5th) but my kettle has seen better days.

I wonder if the nice people in Irish Water might have one washed and brought to my tent. It can be our little secret as I have no desire to open the floodgates. – Yours, etc,

FRANK BYRNE,

Dublin 9.

Sir, – Those of us affected by the latest boil-water notice are told to use only boiled or bottled water for drinking or food preparation. However, householders are never told if it is safe to use heated water from the hot tap for washing dishes, knifes, forks, etc, once the cleaned items are carefully dried. Government Ministers, bureaucrats and Irish Water seem to assume that everyone now has a dishwasher, just as they also assume we can all access official notices and warnings using smartphones, Twitter and Facebook. – Yours, etc,

KARL MARTIN,

Bayside,

Dublin 13.

Sir, – Fine Gael and Leo Varadkar need to wake up. Ensuring a clean and reliable water supply is a pretty basic test of governance.

Seats have been lost for less. – Yours, etc,

JOAN BROPHY,

Kildare.