ONLY ONE LABOUR Councillor today opposed a motion in Laois County Council to abolish water charges and Irish Water, and return the country’s water supply to local authorities.

The motion was forwarded by Sinn Fein councillor Caroline Dwane Stanley, and seconded by her party colleague Aidan Mullins, in a debate at 1.30 pm today.

Labour councillor Noel Tuohy was the only dissenting voice out of the 19 representatives present, but his proposal for an extension of the debate went unsupported, and the Sinn Féin motion was passed without the need for a vote.

Sinn Féin Councillor Caroline Dwane Stanley Caroline Dwane Stanley Caroline Dwane Stanley

Speaking to TheJournal.ie after the vote, Tuohy said he was against “all forms of tax”, but that he “lives in the real world.”

It’s all very well just following public opinion, but we need a realistic plan to provide water, and I think this deserves more than 10 or 15 minutes’ discussion in the council chamber.

Tuohy also said he was “astonished” that, in the constituency of Foreign Affairs Minister Charlie Flanagan, “not one Fine Gael councillor could find their way to voting for a deferral [of the debate].”

Laois now joins several other local authorities throughout the country in formally calling for water charges to be scrapped, including Donegal CC and Wicklow CC.

Read: Another council has voted in favour of abolishing water charges>

Wicklow County Council votes for water charges to be scrapped>