Mullingar man takes irish water to court
A Mullingar anti-water charges campaigner says he is taking Irish Water to court.
Lakepoint resident Dermot Murphy, who took out his water meter last June and posted it back to Irish Water, issued the summons in person at Irish Water’s Dublin headquarters on Monday, October 13.
Speaking to the Westmeath Examiner on Tuesday, Mr Murphy said that he felt compelled to act as he was concerned that “anyone in Ireland can remove water meters, add anything they want in and it will come out of your taps”.
Last month one of Mr Murphy’s co-founders of the anti-water charges group Irish Citizens Movement, Meath resident Alan Law, released video footage which claimed to show the relative ease with which someone could tamper with a household’s water supply without any tools.
“When the meter is in, you just open the shore, you turn off the water, you get your two hands on the meter, turn it anti-clockwise, screw it out, squirt what you like into the hole, put the meter back in, turn on the water again and that’s it. When the person turns on their tap whatever you squirted in will come out. It could be anything. I want my unit put back the way it was, a sealed unit,” Mr Murphy said.
The Irish Citizens Movement sent the video footage made by Mr Laws to the Minister for the Environment Alan Kelly, who, Mr Murphy says, told them to take it up with Irish Water.
Mr Murphy, who is currently unemployed and will represent himself in court, said that he collected the €190 needed to pay for the summons from fellow anti-water charges campaigners.
“When I get to court I will mention to the judge that I gave Alan Kelly the video and he failed to act for us. This is why we started the National Citizens Movement to get accountability – which we don’t have.”
Mr Murphy says that he is confident as he has “the truth on my side”.
“If they have to turn mine back to a sealed unit, it will be a major victory. I want to go into court and set a precedent so everyone in the country can do the same. We’ll make them put back sealed units that are not accessible to anyone.”
“I’m not telling any lies. I have the videos. I have the emails. The truth is on my side. Once I present the truth the judge has to go with the truth. I am very confident. If I lose this case, it will be a travesty of justice. If I lose there I will have to go the Supreme Court and then Europe.”