Offaly TD Condemns Government As Motor Tax Revenue Used To Prop Up Irish Water

By Justin Kelly

Laois/Offaly TD Barry Cowen has hit out at claims that €290 million of motor tax revenue collected nationally last year was handed over to the set-up of Irish Water. Cowen has said his Fianna Fail and Laois/Offaly constituency colleague, Sean Fleming has come into receipt of information as part of Public Accounts Committee meetings that confirms what he calls the “raiding of local tax revenues.”

“I want to know how much of that money was taken from Offaly,” Cowen quipped. €18.8 million was paid by Offaly motorists in motor tax bills in 2014, and Cowen is demanding answers on the issue. “Motorists are under the impression that their motor tax is being spent on upgrading our roads, not funding a lavish new super quango that has failed to muster any public confidence whatsoever.”

Irish Water was founded by the current Fine Gael/Labour government in the summer of 2013, and a series of protests and extended registration deadlines has shrouded the new utility in controversy. 

From January 1 last year, the responsibility for public water supplies in this country was transferred from local county council authorities to Irish Water. Cowen has slammed the company as “a failed entity with no public confidence or support.” “It should not be a further drain on the resources of our people.”

“People will be utterly shocked to hear this news. It comes at a time when over €500m is being wasted on water meters which will not be used for at least 5 years, while another €90m has been spent on consultants’ fees,” Cowen commented. The Clara TD bemoaned the fact that “not one single cent has actually been spent fixing leaks or pipes so far.”

“Irish Water should never have been established in this way,” Cowen wrote in his statement on the issue. “I believe that Fine Gael and Labour have created a monster that they have lost all control over, and now to mask the fiasco, they are plundering money from local services into their failed funding model,” he said.

The first bills for Irish Water are expected to arrive in households in April, and Irish Water say that almost 1.1 million people have now registered for the amenity, meaning a third of people have not yet returned their details. The Right2Water campaign has urged people not to confirm their details with Irish Water, and they have planned their next mass protest against the introduction of water charges for Saturday, March 21.

A Right2Water statement on the planned protest read: “A large turnout on March 21 will not only restate our core assertion that water is a human right and underline our continuing demand for the total abolition of water user charges.  It will also send a clear message that we refuse to be bullied and intimidated.”