‘Why are we expected to pay LPT for non-existent water?’

Furious Enfield residents who found themselves without water again last week, have threatened the withhold local property tax (LPT) and local authority rents in protest at the constant water outages they have been experiencing.

Phil Nolan said he just saw red when he woke up last Wednesday morning to discover the water was gone again and has written to Ministers Damien English and Pascal Donohoe threatening to boycott the local property tax until he has a proper water supply.

Meanwhile Niamh Costello, who lives in a local authority house in the town, said she is considering withholding her rent until she has a proper supply.

Their angry reaction come as the town experienced another outage last week, with Mr Nolan estimating that there have been 26 outages in the past three months.

He said: “We are paying PRSI, carbon tax, motor tax, fuel tax and now the LPT.

“Enough is enough. We have had enough.

“We have had upwards of 26 outages in the past three months alone, between planned and unplanned upgrade works.

“Irish Water, although privatised, seem happy enough to follow process and create event IDs when they receive a complaint without actually doing anything to remedy it.

“As recently as Saturday the 16th of October, a Saturday when the majority of our minors have to travel to Navan to participate in soccer in the MDL, we returned home to find that the water, yet again, was off.

“Not only does this lack of water endanger the wellness of the community but it also seriously decreases the value of our properties if any of us were to try and opt to sell on the market currently.

“It also acts as an inhibiting factor for attracting potential buyers/renters both commercially and domestically.

“Local businesses, cafes, pubs, restaurants are at the peril of whether they will have running water or not.

“How on earth can the government realistically expect us to pay an LPT of €220 upwards for this non-existent right to clean running water?” he asked.

Mr Nolan pointed out that massive developments are still going ahead in the town of Enfield despite the fact that services are less than sub-standard for current residents of the area.

“LPT is paid for basic services which simply are being ignored here in Enfield,” he said.

Niamh Costello who is a local authority tenant, said she intends to withhold her rent.

“We are now continuously being left without water and are not being notified before it happens.

“I work in Dublin. I get up at 6.15am, discover we have no water and cannot have a shower.

“I get back home before 7pm and again, there is no water.

“I've a 22-year-old son coming from work, who cannot have a shower either.”

She says that when there is a water outage, it causes airlocks and other problems in her system.

“At one point, we couldn't flush our toilet normally for four or five weeks. We had to fill the cistern ourselves every time. When the water came back on after an outage, we couldn't get it to work again and it took weeks for Meath County Council to come and sort it out.

“I am personally thinking of stopping paying rent until the water situation is sorted out,” she said.

“We contact Meath County Council and we are told it is not their problem and to contact Irish Water.

“We contact Irish Water and are told a complaint will be logged and we are given a number.

“What help a reference number? I have no idea, it most certainly won't magically fix this problem.

“We need answers and this is not happening. We also need to be heard now and create a bit of a fuss to wake these people up out of the dream world they live in,” she said.

“Maybe it will push them into a more productive manner if we start to make a rumble in the jungle for them. Who knows, but it is worth a try now at this stage.”