by Alan Jacques
WITH a major anti-water charges protest planned for the city this weekend, Limerick Anti Austerity Alliance (AAA) councillor Cian Prendiville is urging journalists not to be used as a “mouthpiece” by Irish Water.
Speaking ahead of this Saturday’s Right2Water march in Limerick, the City North representative maintains that the latest Irish Water figures do not add up.
Reminding the media of its duty not to recycle “spin”, he says the latest figures do not back up Irish Water’s claim that 61 per cent are now paying the charges. In fact, he claims that around 50 per cent are boycotting the tax.
“Irish Water’s spin cycle that we saw in action at the end of the second billing period is out again. They now claim to have ‘confirmed that 61 per cent of customers are paying water charges’. In fact, the figures they provide confirm nothing of the sort,” he claimed.
According to the AAA General Election candidate for Limerick City, the figures only show that 928,000 people have paid at least some of their bill.
This, he says, is “utterly worthless”.
“The Irish Water figures include those who paid the first bill and then joined non-payment, and those who paid the first and second bill and then joined non-payment. While Irish Water claims that 98,000 people paid bills for the first time in the third billing period, they don’t tell us how many who had previously paid stopped paying.
“We simply don’t know whether the number who paid the third bill increased or decreased, or what percentage paid.”
“Journalists should not allow themselves to be used as a mouthpiece for Irish Water by simply repeating their spin. The media should be looking for one key figure – what percentage of people and how many people paid the third bill?”
Cllr Prendiville now wants Irish Water to reveal that figure.
“The fact that they refuse to give that information gives us confidence that the boycott remains extremely strong,” he declared.
Contacted by the Limerick Post this week, a spokeswoman for Irish Water said the most recent billing update showed that the number of customers now paying their bills has continued to increase and now stands at 928,000 customers.
A further 98,000 customers started paying for the first time during the third billing cycle while the total revenue received from domestic customers from one bill cycle to the next has also continued to increase.
“Irish Water has been completely transparent in reporting payment updates at the end of each billing cycle. The percentage of customers paying has increased from 44 per cent to 55 per cent to 61 per cent through bill cycles one to three. The total revenue received has increased from €30.5 million to €38 million to €42.3 million, meaning that a total of €110.8 million has now been paid by Irish Water customers for domestic water charges.”
The Right2Water protest starts from outside City Hall at 2pm this Saturday, January 23.
