FF councillors accused of hypocrisy over water charges
Kevin O’Keeffe (FF) claimed that the new charges to farmers and businesspeople where too harsh, because they were up to three times the normal water rates. These charges were introduced to cut down on pollution and pay for water purification.
Paddy Sheehan (FG) supported his call, claiming that a number of small businesses could go to the wall.
However, Mr O’Keeffe was rounded on by Labour’s Sean Sherlock and Fine Gael’s Kevin Murphy who said Fianna Fáil members had kept quiet when their Government had introduced the charges.
County manager Maurice Moloney pointed out that all councillors had been briefed several times before the charges were introduced.
“This is a classic case of Fianna Fáil talking with forked tongues. It’s a classic case of pure hypocrisy. It was set up by the FF government,” Mr Sherlock commented.
“It’s the greatest conversion since Paul on the road to Damascus,” added Mr Murphy who described it as an FF stealth tax.
Other Fianna Fáil members continued to state that the waste water charges were a major burden. They pointed out that charges should be suspended for a year until people had time to fix leaks on their properties. Mr Moloney said money gained from the charges had been used to run council services
“I can’t remember how many times I came in and told you this. I said it not once but several times and said people could be caught for two or two-and-a-half times as much.
“This has been decided at government level,” Mr Moloney said.
While the motion to suspend the charges was defeated, Mr Moloney said he would look into anomalies which had arisen with the introduction of the system.
This was in response to Noel Harrington (FG) who said businesses in the Castletownbere area were having to pay the charges, but as yet there was no adequate, waste water treatment plant in the area.
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