Protesters interrupt council meeting

A local authority meeting was interrupted twice last night when anti-water tax protestors refused to sit down in the upper gallery of Cork’s City Hall.

Lord Mayor Catherine Clancy repeatedly asked the members of the Ballyphehane/South Parish Says No campaign to take their seats when they stood up and leaned on railings overlooking the council chamber during a council meeting.

She said standing was not allowed in the upper galleries for “health and safety reasons”.

However when they refused to comply on the first occasion, Ms Clancy suspended the meeting for 15 minutes.

The meeting resumed with the campaigners — some of whom have disrupted previous council meetings and forced the abandonment of an entire meeting — took their seats.

But within minutes, Ms Clancy had to suspend the meeting for a second time when the campaigners again stood up.

They insisted they were not there to disrupt the meeting.

“We have organised this protest to highlight that no political party has condemned or rejected the implementation of water meters or charges, or what the health or financial implications will have on our families,” spokesman John Lonergan said.

“The sale of our water to private, for profit, greedy companies has to be stopped.”

They have organised a public meeting in Ballyphehane Community Centre on March 22 to highlight their concerns around the fitting of smart water meters.

Ballyphehane Says No campaigner and Euro election candidate Diarmuid O’Flynn, and Noreen Murphy of the Right 2 Water campaign, will be among the speakers.

The council meeting resumed after the second disruption and continued without incident.

The campaigners left City Hall before the meeting finished.