The voices of thousands of Irish Water protesters in Westmeath echoed in the chambers of the local Council as, in an unprecedented display of cross-party unity, all 13 Councillors on the Mullingar Municipal District called for Irish Water to be abolished.
by Ronan Casey
Their disillusion with the water charges will be on the agenda of the full Council meeting later this month where it is expected their seven Athlone colleagues will join them in calling for the plug to be pulled on Irish Water.
At the Mullingar meeting on Monday, not one but four official Notices of Motion were up for discussion: Two apiece from Sinn Féin and Fianna Fail. Tellingly, there were no motions tabled by the Government parties Fine Gael or Labour, but all five of their Councillors spoke in support of all four SF/FF motions in language that Enda Kenny and Joan Burton will find hard to ignore.
FG HEADS LOW
Fine Gael’s Andrew Duncan said he was finding it difficult to hold his head up with “the fiasco that is Irish Water”. Still fighting wind energy, Cllr Duncan said it was impossible to support Irish Water as just when the country was getting better, “the plug was pulled from within”.
He said he joined Fine Gael to “work within the system”, a point echoed by his FG colleague Peter Burke who said the whole Irish Water saga has been “a very poor performance by the Government”. He said he is hugely frustrated, but better off “working from inside the tent trying to change things than standing outside shouting in.”
Fellow Fine Gael rep Frank McDermott, one of Ireland’s longest serving Councillors, said Irish Water “needs to be dispensed with, as soon as possible”. He had confidence in Irish Water at first, particularly as six highly regarded Westmeath County Council staff went to work there. “These were great people, and for them it must be horrendous,” he noted of their new roles in the under-fire organisation. He said the bonus structure of Irish Water turned him off and an urgent rethink is required.
NO CONFIDENCE
Labour’s Mick Dollard said he has no confidence in Irish Water and felt more powers should have been handed to the Council to look after water. He said the current Government has already made bad mistakes with SUSI, which looks after college grants, and the Medical Cards and coming on the back of the Household Charge and the Property Tax, water charges were “ridiculous”. Labour colleague Johnnie Penrose said Irish Water was “rushed through, and very unfair”.
All five of the above supported the motions tabled by Cllr Aidan Davitt (abolition of Irish Water), Cllr Ken Glynn (no confidence in Irish Water), Cllr Una D’Arcy (immediate reversal of charges and recognise Irish Water not fit for purpose) and Cllr Sorcha Clarke (stop spending on consultants and use instead to fix underground problems).
YOU’VE BEEN
QUANGOED
“The largest quango in the history of the state” was how Cllr Aidan Davitt (FF) described Irish Water as he tabled his motion. He said it was scandalous to target the working and coping classes who have had enough. He complained about the “total arrogance” of Irish Water to pay themselves bonuses when 45% of treated water is being lost. He said he will not pay under any circumstances.
Cllr Una D‘Arcy (SF) was critical of the notion that water protesters were “a sinister fringe” when, in fact, “they are hard working people so fed up they had to take to the streets.” She said we have been paying for water all along and if Irish Water was about conservation why has there been no promotion of ‘grey water systems’ such as rainwater to flush toilets etc. She stressed the importance for “the lake county to stand up and say no to Irish Water”.
Cllr Ken Glynn (FF) wanted a vote of no confidence in Irish Water and that was certainly what he got. He said he admired those on the march and, like D’Arcy, said there was no dangerous fringe just families.
Speaking as a sale person he said you can’t sell a product that’s faulty, but with leaks in Westmeath and water smelling so bad that people in the lake county are afraid to drink it, the cheek of Irish Water to pay bonuses was “the last straw”. He said he had returned his application pack two months ago “but if knew then what I know now” he would not have done so.
CONSULTANTS
Cllr Sorcha Clarke (SF) said it is a revenue raising tax and nothing else. Water is not a commodity, she noted, and neither were PPS numbers. She was aghast at the spending on consultants, money which could have been spent repairing leaks or ensuring clean water and an uninterrupted supply. “The people in Irish Water and this Government are not fit to run a home for the bewildered. Irish Water is a failed venture… it is tarnished beyond repair and must go.”
Fiann Fail’s Avril Whitney, John Shaw and Paul Daly also spoke in favour of the four motions. “A disaster from the start and I hope it’ll end soon,” was Shaw’s view, whilst Daly said Irish Water was “a fiasco”. He said they set out to win over people “but did entirely the opposite”. As public reps, a ‘hotline’ number they were given has been “a disaster” and Cllr Daly said he spent 20 minutes on the phone the other day explaining to Irish Water that Tyrrellspass was in Westmeath. “I rest my case…” he concluded.
HOUR ON PHONE
Cllr Paddy Hill (FF), opposed from the start, said he spent an hour trying to tell Irish Water where Finea was, and he eventually gave up. Last year, he rang the Council about a leak in Finea, and a crew were there in minutes. 7He suggested instead of going to Government with four motions, the Council go to Government asking for Irish Water to be disbanded and for water charges to be suspended. All 13 Councillors agreed.
There to listen to the debate were a number of people involved in the protest march on Saturday November 1, including Barry Carr, Jimmy Duffy and Nicole Lonegan.
