Water protest this morning outside council hq in castlebar

THE National Citizens Movement is holding a protest outside the offices of Mayo County Council in Castlebar today.

The protest gets underway at 11 a.m. and coincides with a meeting of the authority, which is scheduled for later in the afternoon.

In a statement, the group said county councils around the country have, in recent months, been discussing and voting to abolish Irish Water and water charges.

The National Citizens Movement is encouraging people to join the protest ‘to let local representatives know that we are now starting to engage with our politics more and that we intend to start scrutinising their representation of our interests in the council chambers in Mayo and holding them to account’.

This particular discussion on water has been adjourned and the organisation say today’s meeting will see a motion, proposed by Councillor Rose Conway-Walsh (Sinn Féin), being revisited once again and, hopefully, voted upon by public representatives.

Continued the statement: “Irish Water is reportedly sending representatives to advise councillors on the company in the morning and we intend to make our presence known to them also.

“The protest is set to be, as always, a peaceful one and people are invited to bring their families.

“We want our councillors to show solidarity with the other county councils around the country that have already discussed and passed similar motions. We intend also to publicise those representatives who either vote against the motion, or choose to abstain from the vote (something which we view as equivocal to voting against it), so that their constituents are made aware of their position and can be informed to decide whether their councillors truly represent their views.”