by Alan Jacques
CITY North councillor Maurice Quinlivan has called on Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government, Alan Kelly TD, to explain why his government ignored the advice of Bord Gáis and raced ahead with the installation of water meters against the clear wishes of the people.
The Sinn Féin party leader on Limerick City and County Council was speaking after the ‘This Week’ programme on RTÉ Radio One revealed that Bord Gáis questioned the need for Irish Water’s €540 million metering programme back in 2012.
“Clearly the latest lot of leaked documents reveal the shambolic process that took place in establishing Irish Water. The revelation that there are no minutes or even notes of the majority of 23 meetings between senior Government officials and Bord Gáis in mid-2012 is unbelievable and needs explanation,” Cllr Quinlivan commented.
“Huge decisions would have been taken at those meetings many such as the establishment of Irish Water which have caused huge concerns to many people. No doubt amongst the discussions were how Irish Water would be created and how it would operate.”
“The civil servants present and on occasions former Minister Phil Hogan was there supposedly to represent the citizens yet no records were kept of these. This is simply unbelievable,” he said.
One meeting that there is a record of took place on May 11, 2012. It is reported that at this meeting the government officials were pushing the case for water meters and outlined that this was Government policy. It has been revealed this week that Bord Gáis questioned this and were in favour of flat charges or assessed ones and not meters.
Cllr Quinlivan insists that the fact Labour and Fine Gael have now reversed back into the Bord Gáis position after wasting most of the €539 million of public money on installing meters, that are now redundant for at least four years, is “outrageous”.
“This at a time when our A&E is not fit for purpose, when 224 people a day are emigrating because we have failed to deliver proper paying jobs, a huge housing crisis with virtually no social housing available to the thousands that linger on our housing list. This metering is a shameful water of our scare resources,” Quinlivan fumed.
He is calling on Minister Kelly now to explain why his Government ignored the advice of Bord Gáis particularly in view of the regular statements from government that Bord Gáis was given the role of establishing Irish Water due to its level of expertise.
“We especially need an explanation as to why no records were kept of these important meetings which have led to the creation of the toxic Irish Water.”
