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Councillor rips up Irish Water form in meeting, urges people not to pay
Councillor Cian Prendiville says that while he wants people not to pay, writing on envelopes wasn’t an option.
AN ANTI-AUSTERITY Alliance councillor for Limerick today ripped up his Irish Water application form in the council chambers, calling it “a warning” for the government.
Cian Prendiville of AAA told the meeting of the Metropolitian District of Limerick (formerly Limerick City Council) that he was ripping up the letter and nominating three others to take the AAA Irish Water Challenge.
He said that while tearing the letter was a symbolic gesture, he was advocating a campaign of non-payment. He went on to say, however, that any suggestion that writing on an envelope was erroneous.
“That is a misconception. The key thing is to organise a campaign of non-payment. It’s up to people to put it up to the government to cut them off.
“This is a warning to Labour and Fine Gael that thousands of people are going to refuse to pay the water tax.
Irish Water do not have Revenue to do their dirty work, they cannot take this from people’s income. Therefore we have the ability to refuse to pay, and to build an active campaign to scrap this water tax. Hundreds of thousands simply cannot afford this charge, which will be over €500 for many families.
Irish Water has begun sending out the letters to homes in preparation for water charges. Charging will be calculated from October, with the first bills set to go out in January.
Prendiville told TheJournal.ie that if people want to fight the charges, non-payment is their only option.
“Non-payment and political pressure can work. Any attempt to slow water down can be stopped and when they tried to bring people to court for non-payment of water charges in the 80s, the court cases became such scenes of political protest that it was impossible to proceed.
“This is a beatable tax.
“They can’t take us all to court.”
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