This article is from page 19 of the 2013-05-21 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 19 JPG
THE value of Clare’s water infrastructure, which will soon be transferred to the Irish Water Agency, has been estimated at more than € 400 million. Councillors at last night’s meetings of Clare County Council raised fears that this valuable public resource could be sold to a private company – and possibly even a for eign-owned private corporation.
Figures released at last night’s meeting of Clare County Council puts the total fixed assets of Clare County Council at € 637.2 million. When depreciation of € 247 million is taken into account and € 10 million of works currently being built – that brings the total value of Clare water system to € 400.1 million.
Councillors last night criticised the lack of clarity about the transfer of water resources from Clare County Council to Irish Water – and raised fears that the county’s water infrastructure could be sold to private companies in China and Singapore.
“Our water infrastructure could end up in Chinese hands – maybe we will have the Who Flung Dung corporation looking to take control of the Irish water system. We won’t have a control over the pricing structure and there will be no investment in water systems over the years,” said Cllr PJ Kelly (FF).
“Who is going to control water charges in the future? Is it going to be public representatives like this? No. It will be companies who will see every price increase as profit.”
The discussions follow a pair of water-related motions put forward by six councillors – including PJ Kelly and Pat Hayes (FF).
“There are a lot of critical issues which need to be insured if we are going to transfer to Irish Water. Irish Water should be retained permanently in Irish control. That any price increases would be list to the cost of living. That a percentage [of money collected] be invested back to infrastructure. And that all loans [on the water projects] be written off. I am not in supporter of Irish Water but if it going to happen then these points should be looked at and put in place.”
The meeting also heard that there is currently € 24.8 million owed on Clare water projects.
“Everything that we have heard to date states that the assets will remain in public ownership and we can only accept that as it stands,” said Director of Services, Anne Haugh.
“The basis of the negotiations at the moment are that liabilities will be transferred along with assets.”