A Right2Water march goes through to town in January. Photo by Gavin O’Connor.
THE Righ2Water campaign got a shot in the arm earlier in this week when the government announced that less than half (43%) of the total houses liable to pay water charges have paid up.
“The news is brilliant and I think they’re hiding the figures. It could be even more households not paying the charge,” said Anne Locke of Kerry Right2Water.
“We’re surprised they actually came out with the low figure, we expect that it’s even lower, because there are people in the list that haven’t even registered” said Anne Locke.
The news has catapulted the water issue back into the spotlight as there was a sense that pressure from protesters had been waning.
“No, we were working away in the background, we were out leafleting in the homes and giving people information on their rights. The protests had gone down, but when we spoke to people at the doors, the amount of people who were not paying was astronomical,” she said.
“We want it (Irish Water) down and we are fully convinced we will win,” she added.
What do the anti-water charges protest movement have to say to the 43% who did pay their charges?
“To the people who have paid, I say come out and boycott with us. Nobody will blame anyone for paying because people have been frightened and blackmailed into paying. I think a lot of people were bullied into paying, God love them, a lot of them were elderly who were told about the attachment orders who didn’t realise you have to go into court for anything like that. Because Denis O’Brien owns the media, some people didn’t have access to the true figures which can be found on social media.”
The group plan to protest outside Kerry County Council building between 9am and 10am this coming Monday morning, before the monthly meeting of the council.
They will be there showing their presence, because every third Monday of the month, representatives from Irish Water, come to speak with Kerry County Council.
