Irish Water privatisation fears highlighted at Granard public meeting

Close to sixty people attended a Sinn Féin organised ‘Right to Water’ public meeting in Granard last night (Thursday, December 4).

Deputy Michael Colreavy (Sinn Féin spokesperson on Agriculture, Marine and Food), Cllr Martin Kenny, Cllr Paul Hogan and John Reilly - candidate in the Granard Local Electoral Area - spoke about the ‘farce’ that is Irish Water and alluded to the fact that it was only a matter of time before the country’s water network was privatised.

The party sent out a very clear message to those in attendance with regard to next Wednesday’s march in Dublin which is being held on Human Rights Day.

“We believe water is a right and the provision of water services should be enshrined in the Irish Constitution 1937,” Cllr Hogan added. “The Government never anticipated the level of opposition to water charges and what I see coming from this government is neoliberalism - putting a resource out onto the open market and giving it to the highest bidder.

“Water should be accessible to all and we already pay for our water services through taxation. The new proposals amount to nothing more than a stealth tax. We want to see as many people as possible marching on Dáil Eireann next Wednesday, December 10, on this issue.”

The meeting heard that by the time Irish Water was fully operational, close to €500m of taxpayers money will have been spent on its implementation.

“It is absolutely criminal what is going on,” Cllr Hogan added.