The wind gusted sheets of rain at them as they marched over the River Lee, but as Trina Murphy put it: “We’ve weathered bigger storms like this every day for our kids.”

Residents who negotiated the removal of water meters from their estate have hailed a small victory in their battle with Irish Water but warned the war is far from over.

Defiant residents behind the country’s first organised water meter blockade have vowed to maintain their protest after successfully preventing work for an entire day yesterday.