There is one man who can’t get his water meter in soon enough ...

While the sight of Irish Water meter installers has brought tension to the streets of residential areas across the country, one Cork man has complained that he can’t get his meter put in soon enough.

John Healy is due to have a new driveway laid outside his home in Kanturk, but he has yet to have his meter installed.

Mr Healy fears the meter will be put in after the work is done — resulting in an unsightly patch on his newly laid driveway. He is further worried that any potential leaks identified by the meter would see the new drive torn up to address the seepage.

He said repeated requests for a meter installer to visit his home before he has the driveway laid have been turned down by Irish Water, and that the company has not told him when it is scheduled for installation.

A registered Irish Water customer, Mr Healy said it is “ridiculous” that Irish Water cannot even tell him when his meter will be fixed.

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He has delayed the contracted works for two months, but does not know when he can give the contractor the go-ahead. “Any other utility would be able to tell me. If I called out the ESB for works they could tell me when to expect them. I have tried my best here.”

Irish Water said because the stop valve for his property was within the grounds of his home, it was unable to fit his meter as part of its current programme.

A spokesperson said: “Irish Water is currently implementing phase one of the national metering programme whereby water meters are being installed outside domestic residences on publicly accessible land and as legislated under the Water Services Acts.”

The spokesperson said each local authority conducted a survey of all households to check their suitability to receive a meter in this phase of the programme. Irish Water is “installing meters in line with the information provided by the local authorities from this survey, outside domestic residences connected to the public water mains”.

“The local authority survey identified that Mr Healy’s outside stop valve is located in private property and therefore his property is outside of the remit of phase one of the metering programme,” said the spokesperson.

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