This article is from page 12 of the 2007-12-11 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 12 JPG
HOME-owners in County Clare could be forced to cough up money for monthly water charges following a motion put forward at last night’s meeting of the local authority held at Shannon Airport.
As part of a motion put forward by Cllr Gerry Flynn (Ind), calls were made to put in place a system of wa- ter charges in which business rate- payers, farmers and domestic users
paid in accordance to the amount of water used.
“The way that the water services are operating at the moment leave a lot to be desired. I have records of customers who have been billed from Clare County Council for services that they have never used,” said Cllr Gerry Flynn (Ind).
“There is a lot of confusion with this. There are quite a lot of busi- nesses who need water operating in County Clare.
‘The council needs to get its act to- gether on this.
“If a business and domestic homes Operate out of the same water sup- ply, then why shouldn’t the owners be allowed to use their domestic al- lowance first and then be charged as a business for water used beyond dakelmaas
Commenting on the motion, Ruan- based Cllr Joe Arkins (FG) com- mented that if the Government wish- es to continue with free water for
domestic users, that they should pay for it rather than asking the rate-pay- ers of the county to foot the bill.
“I think it is very unfair to ask the business and farming community to fund the provision of water in the en- tire county,” said Cllr Arkins.
“If the Government wants to give free water then so be it, but along with that they have to give us a means of funding it, other than pass- ing on all the burden to the business and farming communities.”