Still no action to deal with farm water charges

A MAYO councillor has again called on the government parties to take action on new water charges being imposed on farmers.

Under new billing, farmers face a standing charge on every meter on their lands, which could result in significant bills for some Mayo farmers, many of whom have fragmented holdings with multiple meters.

The issue was raised in December when Councillor Damien Ryan (FF) proposed Mayo County Council write to the government party leaders asking why they were allowing Irish Water to apply multiple meter standing charges.

He further proposed that an official from Ministers Dara O'Brien and Peter Burke's department be invited down to the January meeting of the local authority.

Those invites were acknowledged.

Speaking at the January meeting, Councillor Ryan impressed the urgency of the matter, with bills starting to issue in March. "We cannot let this go," he stated.

He asked the council to write again to the three party leaders and that the two ministers put forward representatives to attend a virtual meetings with the local authority.

Councillor John O'Hara said the new system was 'very unfair' and they needed to listen to the people.

Councillor Martin McLoughlin agreed it is a 'huge issue' and it's not being addressed.

Meanwhile, Councillor Mark Duffy raised issues with water infrastructure in Ballina town.

In January 2021 he called on Irish Water to conduct an audit of infrastructure in the town, which has not been done.

They have been lacking in delivering upgrades and every week there is burst pipes, and they were just fire fighting.

He would support having Irish Water in front of them.