Inishowen Groundbreaking Agreement on Water Meters

John Gildea (left) MBC Builders  shaking hands with James Quigley (right) Inishowen  group

John Gildea (left) MBC Builders  shaking hands with James Quigley (right) Inishowen  group

An agreement between MBC Builders (Gildea), Ballybofey and Inishowen groups opposed to water meters has been reached following a meeting held in An Grianan Hotel, Burt, Co Donegal on Thursday 16th July. The meeting came about as a result of John Gildea, MBC Builders, recently contacting James Quigley, a local anti water charge campaigner from Buncrana.

MBC Builders is one of two subcontractors contracted by GMC Sierra Ltd to install meter ready boundary boxes in place of old water stopcocks in the area. GMC Sierra Ltd have the main contract from Irish Water to install water meters throughout the north/north west of Ireland from Mayo to Donegal.

At the meeting John Gildea of MBC Builders agreed that no work will be carried out on properties in Inishowen which have a sign up, indicating that they do not want a meter. The Inishowen groups agreed that they will not oppose MBC Builders working on properties which don't have a sign up. The agreement is subject to the following conditions;

1 MBC Builders will not work on properties who have a sign up indicating that they do not want a water meter installed..

2 MBC Builders personnel will not try to coax or by any mean persuade any residents who does not want a meter or who has a sign up indicating so, to change their minds .

3 MBC Builders will notify an anti water charge campaigner at least the night before work starts in any particular area.

4 All work will be carried out within socially accepted times 7.30am-7.30pm Mon-Fri and 8am to 1pm Sat.

James Quigley emphasised that this agreement is between us and MBC Builders. It is all about 'signs' on properties whose owners do not want a meter. If people have a sign up they will not get a meter or boundary box. There are some complicated technical issues in respect of work carried out by sub contractors and that carried out by GMC Sierra Ltd. We will be clarifying these issues later in our web page, the media and public meetings. We will also clarify other important issues that came up including the possibility that another contractor may come in after MBC Builders and finish the job or that this agreement paves the way for contractors to complete their job in Inishowen.

For some time now campaign groups in the area have been calling for a sensible approach such as this to the water meter controversy. We have repeatedly contacted Irish Water, GMC Sierra and An Garda Siochána to try to set up such an agreement. As far back as February we had a very successful public meeting in Buncrana where campaigners from Moneymore, Drogheda gave a talk on their successful agreement between themselves and contractors. I believe everyone in the packed audience that night were in agreement that we should go down this route.

I am glad we persisted and I am pleased that John Gildea of MBC Builders finally sees that an agreement such as this is the sensible way forward. This is an agreement that satisfies the needs of both sides. It is based on mutual trust and has already been proven in Moneymore and Cork and other parts Donegal that it can be a civilised solution to a difficult problem. All protest groups and Inishowen people should now get behind this new dispensation, give it a fair chance and demonstrate to one and all what can be achieved by reasoned negotiation.

AAA to discuss Irish Water boycott escalation

The Anti Austerity Alliance will discuss the next step in their campaign against water charges this morning.
The move comes after figures released by Irish Water this week showed less than half of customers have paid their first bill.
Anti Water charges activists are calling on landlords not to act as enforcers for Irish Water.
The group will "along with other water charge activists, will map out how the boycott can be escalated at a press conference" on Friday morning.

Paul Murphy from the Anti Austerity Alliance is encouraging more people not to pay:

Irish Water collects less than half of water charges owed

Company takes in €30 million for first three months of 2015
 

Story by Fiach Kelly Irish Times
 

Edited by Fliuch

Irish Water has collected 46 per cent of all domestic water charge payments due to it for the first three months of billing, The Irish Times has learned.

[Other reports say 43% – Fliuch]

The semi-state company, which began billing people for water in January, will release the payment figures on Wednesday, Taoiseach Enda Kenny told the Dáil on Tuesday.

Sources said Irish Water calculated it should take in €271 million in a full year of operation, meaning it should collect €66.8 million in its first quarterly billing cycle of January, February and March – with bills sent out from April onwards. The money collected for the first three months stands at €30.5 million, or 46 per cent.

The figures for the first quarter include homes in ghost estates and up to 5 per cent of people Irish Water does not have addresses for and haven’t sent bills to.

The figures do not include non-domestic bills, such as businesses, schools and hospitals, which are running at around 90 per cent payment of all money due. However, non-domestic charges were already being paid before the introduction of domestic water charges.

The number of households that have paid is 675,000 out of 1.5 million, or around 43 per cent.

Sources claimed the percentage figure for money collected is more important because it reflects the levels of payments made.

The difference in percentage between the money collected and households that have paid is because of different amounts of money charged per bill, sources said.

“Every bill is different,” said one. It was also pointed out that the average time for someone to pay their water bill in the United Kingdom is three months.

The first cycles of bills also show 40 per cent of people paying through metered charges, rather than capped charges of €260 per two adult household and €160 per single adult households, beat the cap with lower water charges.

[There is almost no way a ‘normal’ household can ‘beat the cap’ so most of these homes are unoccupied – Fliuch]

Those who have registered with Irish Water will be able to claim the Government’s €100 conservation grant form later this year. An estimated 72 per cent of households have registered to date.

Registering with the company does not mean a householder has to pay their water charges, and they are entitled to claim the €100 grant even if they do not pay.

[Under the Environment (Miscellaneous) Bill it is not possible to receive the €100 unless you have paid the bill so this statement is wrong – Fliuch]

The bills from the second billing cycle of April, May and June are being sent out from this month. Reminders will also be sent from now on to houses which have not paid their bills.

Failure to make any payments over the first year of billing means a penalty sum of €30 for an one-person household and €60 for all other households will apply. Irish Water will also have the power to introduce attachment orders to deduct unpaid bills from wages and welfare.

[This statement needs to be qualified – you must be taken to court first and under the constitution you’re entitled to a case decided by a jury of your peers – Fliuch]

The company is also funded for 2015 to cover the lag time between people receiving their bills and paying their bills.

The Government established Irish Water as an independent entity to allow it to raise funds separately from the exchequer. However Eurostat, the EU statistical body, has to give the green light using a set of rules to determine whether Irish Water is independent of Government.

Sources said Eurostat rules related to the amount of money that is billed, rather than paid.

The Central Statistics Office has told Eurostat that Irish Water should be classified as being off the Government balance sheet and the European agency is due to make its final decision later this year.

A decision that all Irish Water’s investment should remain on balance sheet in the years ahead would restrict the room for manoeuvre in future budgets, as well as delivering a damaging political blow to the Government.

© http://www.irishtimes.com/news/politics/irish-water-collects-less-than-half-of-water-charges-owed-1.2285030