Independent Galway West TD Noel Grealish, can “swing the pendulum towards scrapping water charges completely” if he votes with the emerging political majority against the controversial charges.
This is the view of Sinn Féin senator Trevor Ó Clochartaigh, who is calling on Dep Grealish to “do the right thing” and vote with the 10 members of the Oireachtas Committee on the Future of Domestic Water Charges, who have declared they are against the reintroduction of water charges. The members include representatives from Sinn Féin, Fianna Fáíl, and a number of Independents.
“Grealish’s vote would ensure a majority decision and could put an end to water charges,” said Sen Ó Clochartaigh. Fine Gael and Labour are in favour of some kind of charge for wastage/overuse of water from domestic users.
However the other members of the committee say it would also be counter-productive to reintroduce domestic water charges, as it would be more expensive to administer them than the revenue collected. They favour putting the money into fixing the leaking infrastructure, introducing parity of charges for people on group water schemes, and refunding of money to those who have already paid their water bills.
“Dep Grealish needs to remember the huge numbers of people from Galway who marched against the imposition of water charges,” said Sen Ó Clochartaigh. “He must respect the fact that Irish citizens elected a majority of TDs who opposed water charges and he should support the efforts to dump the water charges once and for all when the committee votes in them this week.”
