Water Charges: Using Property Tax To Pay For Water Meters

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Councillor MARY FITZPATRICK joins John Healy.

They begin by discussing water charges and Phil Hogan’s promise to fix leaks in problem areas when domestic water charges are introduced.

They discuss the “First fix free” plan which the government had committed to financing at the time. Mary says she has tried to contact various organisations to find out more about the scheme, but has been sent from one organisation to another without getting any solid information.

Mary says it will become the responsibility of homeowners to fix any leaks occurring on their properties. However, she says, many people do not have the funds to pay for private contractors to make these repairs. This means they may face fines for not being able to fix leaks and paying for water being lost as a result of damaged water infrastructure.

Councillor Fitzpatrick suggests that people lobby the government for answers and to address their fear of the upcoming proposals.

Duration: 20'00" DATE: October 23, 2013
Interviewer:John Healy
Producer:John Healy
Interviewee:Mary Fitzpatrick
Themes:Irish Life & Culture, Local Current Affairs
Keywords:water charges ireland, local property tax charges, fixing water leaks, government responsibility of the water system,
LocationIreland Time Period:2013
Type:Sound Language:English
Creator:Near FM Publisher:Near FM
Identifier:NEARFM_20131023_NST_001
Rights:
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.