Glenlara says no to water charges as protests are mounted

On Monday night, March 23, a street meeting was held in Glenlara to organise peaceful opposition to the proposed water meter installations in the estate this week. The Anglo-Celt spoke to ‘Cavan Say’s No’ campaigner Emmett Smith about the protest.
“When the residents of Glenlara got word that water meters were to be installed this week, they knew who to contact. We came here (Glenlara) last night and organised an impromptu street meeting. Finian McNamara delivered leaflets to all the residents.
“The people who attended the meeting decided that they are totally against Irish Water, they won’t be paying their bills. There’s a unanimous discontent with Irish Water, what it’s aiming to do and what it stands for and there was an agreement that we don’t want them coming here to Glenlara.
“There are no penalties for non-payment until after the General Election, so the people feel confident. We arranged this protest, organised banners and signs and ensured the people from the Water Charge Opposition group were informed and here we all are. We can’t block off the entire country but we can block off our little estate here,” he said.
Mr Smith informs The Anglo-Celt that the street in Glenlara has been marked and that residents had received notice that work would begin on meter installations within three days.
Certain houses have meter boxes already installed and it’s just a matter of coming in and dropping the meter in, other houses will have to have their footpath dug up to install boxes and meters.
“Our message to Irish Water is simple ‘we’re here as residents of Glenlara, we don’t agree with Irish Water and we don’t want it. That’s it’.”
The group has said that the protest will remain peaceful. “We did agree that, in so far as is possible, this will be a polite and respectful protest no matter what happens. It’s a protest and we’re going to have to go through the steps of that process and hopefully all will be done in a respectful manner at all times,” said Mr Smith. The Anglo-Celt spoke to Glenlara resident and mother of two Gunita Geiba who told us why she was protesting the installation of the water meters.
“If this were to go through, it would affect me greatly. I don’t know what kind of job I’d need to get to afford the charges. What’s next? We pay for air? I’ll need to go to the shelter with my kids. Water belongs to everybody,” she said.
The Anglo-Celt contacted Irish Water about this protest and their response was as follows:
“Irish Water fully respects the right to peaceful protest and endeavours to facilitate this as much as possible, bearing in mind the health and safety of the general public and our employees is a priority for Irish Water.”