Clarinbridge residents cannot be expected to pay water charges when many cannot even use their showers due to pressure problems with the area’s water supplies.
This is the view of Fianna Fáil Local Athenry-Oranmore candidate Martina Kinane who said the situation is so bad that in many houses only downstairs taps produce water.
She is now calling on Galway East Government TDs here that Clarinbridge households will not be hit with water charges until the problems with the supply are fixed.
Ms Kinane said she brought this matter to the attention of Galway County Council in July but, she alleges, “so far nothing has been done”. However she said the council’s “hands are tied” as its assets have been handed over to the “Government’s new super quango” Irish Water.
Irish Water, Ms Kinane said, has so far been about “taxpayers footing the bill for expensive consultants, PR experts, generous salaries, and top-ups. Not one leak has been fixed or one pipe repaired”.
She said the Government’s water ‘reform’ plans is nothing more than a plan to set up “a corporate entity to hit households with charges”.
“If people are to be charged for their water, they have a right to expect a decent quality service,” she said. “County Galway has been plagued by water problems for years. These problems must be fixed without further delay.”
