IFA refuses to co-operate with Veolia on water meters

Following a meeting of the County Executive of Roscommon IFA last week, the IFA has reiterated its stance on water charges, stating that it will not co-operate with Veolia on the installation of water meters.             The call was issued by the Chairman of Roscommon IFA County Executive, Kilmore-based farmer Bernard Donohue. He said that the Department of Environment and local authorities were given a real opportunity to resolve this dispute in a practical and efficient way.             ‘There seems to be a bit of pressure coming on farmers and the council on this issue. We had a County Executive meeting last week and reiterated our stance. The council and Veolia are putting on pressure, and farmers came back to us to know what the up to date position is.             ‘The agreement is that we would pay the old charges for this year but would not be co-operating with the installation of the meters until agreement is reached. It was agreed one hundred percent by the executive that our non co-operation would continue.’             ‘IFA is refusing to co-operate with the new system and will be requesting a meeting with the Minister of the Environment as soon as the person is appointed under the new Government.’ Mr. Donohue said water is the most essential and the most basic human resource of all. This is why the EU in its Water Framework Directive insists that there can be no profit made from providing clean water.             The IFA County Chairman said IFA is not prepared to allow Roscommon County Council and the Department of Environment to discriminate against farm families by imposing a private water usage restriction on farm households while every other domestic user in Ireland has unlimited use of water. Farmers are not prepared to pay for water leakage or infrastructure. Mr. Donohue said Roscommon IFA is recommending farmers to pay the old fixed charges for water until the new Government resolves this issue.