A SINN FÉIN councillor has accused Fianna Fáil members of the local authority of being “chicken” after they abstained in a vote against Water Charges.
A special meeting of the county council was called at the request of Cllr Maurice Quinlivan(SF) who tabled a motion that the Council should call on the Government stop the charges and the installation of meters, admit that Irish Water is not fit for purpose and listen to the public outcry.
“It is clear that the Government has totally underestimated the level of public anger at the imposition of domestic water charges and the determination that now exists amongst the people to defeat them,” Cllr Quinlivan told the meeting.
“Citizens, sick to the teeth of relentless austerity, with one new tax and charge after another, spoke loudly and clearly across this State on Saturday and again the week before in Limerick City. Their message was crystal clear – they will not accept the Water Tax”.
But when a vote on the motion was taken after more than two hours of debate, the Fianna Fáil members present abstained and the motion fell by 15 votes to eight.
Speaking after the defeat, Cllr Quinlivan said that he was “very disappointed with Fianna Fáil playing politics with this. This was a chance for the Council to stand with the people who simply cannot afford to pay this tax. Fianna Fáil abstaining was taking the chicken’s way out”.
However, Fianna Fáil’s James Collins said that “some of our members were of the view that a portion of the population is already paying for water and the motion didn’t give any consideration to that”.
Three other amendments to the main motion, from Labour, the Anti Austerity Alliance and Fianna Fáil were also defeated.
