Fianna Fáil General Election candidate for Mayo Cllr Lisa Chambers says the Government’s Water Conservation Grant will actually end up costing Mayo taxpayers money and will do nothing to encourage people to conserve water. Cllr Chambers made the comments after letters encouraging people to sign up for the grant arrived in the post last week.
Cllr Chambers explained: “This Government’s attempts to get people to sign up for water charges is completely disingenuous, and this latest ploy offering money back to households is nothing more than a gimmick to get more people to register with its bloated superquango. The Water Conservation Grant does nothing to incentivise people to conserve water, it is a blanket scheme that will actually end up costing taxpayers in Mayo and across the country €135m this year alone. This is another vain attempt by Fine Gael and Labour to get people to register with Irish Water, nothing more."
She went on to say: “The Government’s decision to implement a flat rate charge has completely undermined the water metering system, leaving unused meters rotting in the ground until at least 2019, at a cost of €530m. The setting up of this bonus-driven quango has already cost €800m, money which could have been spent upgrading the infrastructure and fixing pipes. However, this Government and specifically Minister Alan Kelly have botched the process, resulting in a series of costly blunders, which taxpayers in Mayo are paying the price for."
The first term councillor concluded: “Now Minister Kelly is trying to buy public favour by rolling out the Water Conservation Grant, a manoeuvre which will actually cost the Government and the taxpayer money. This is an extremely cynical move aimed at increasing registration for a tax which the majority of people have decided not to pay. The Minister’s cynical attempts to mask his own incompetence by buying off the public should not be tolerated any longer. Irish Water has been a disaster from the start, marred by controversy and Ministerial mismanagement. This superquango should be abolished without delay.”
