City Council Rejects Water Charges

City Council Rejects Water Charges

Cork City Council last night passed a motion by Sinn Féin councillor Fiona Kerins setting out its opposition to any proposal to introduce domestic water charges.

Welcoming the council’s decision, Cllr Kerins said: “We all recognise that clean water is a precious resource that costs money to produce but this is already paid for through general taxation. Introducing an extra charge is a regressive form of double taxation. “The Government and the Green Party in particular are trying to bring in this charge in the guise that it is a measure to help preserve water. Yet government officials have admitted that metering will only reduce household water consumption by 16%. Meanwhile up to 40% of all treated water is being lost through leaking pipes and poor infrastructure. For anybody who was genuinely concerned to preserve water, fixing our leaking pipes should take precedence over wasting millions of euros fitting water meters to households.

“But of course the introduction of water charges is not about preserving water. It is about targeting already hard pressed households for additional revenue streams for Government, while businesses who already owe almost €30 million in water charges to local authorities are not being pursued for payment. “The Government should be focussed on fixing our crumbling water infrastructure while educating people about the importance of water preservation and assisting in the introduction of water saving technologies. This would not only be the most sensible approach but the best and most fair way to preserve water. For further information contact Cllr Fiona Kerins @ 085-1091758.