"We’ll sit on the drains, we’ll do anything, we would go to jail rather than pay." That’s the message to the Government and Irish Water from three residents of the Alley Close estate in Clogheen.

Liz Davies, Breda Hampson and Tom Tyrrell are steadfastly refusing to have water meters installed outside their council houses. They have posters on the windows saying as much with obstructions in the form of 2 benches and a car parked over the covers on the driveways, which Irish Water need to access.

“Therea are eight houses in this estate and five of them have the meters installed as far as we know. Irish Water came into the estate about 4 weeks ago with their vans. We told them that the three of us weren’t having any meters installed. I have to say they were so nice about it. The crew of six were happy enough to leave us alone without incident. They haven’t come back since,” explained Liz.

Breda added that in her view the water is ‘rotten half the time in Clogheen’.

“There’s too much chlorine in it. That aside, the water should be free and any leaks should have been fixed during the Celtic Tiger.”

When put to the trio that whatever about the car that Tom parks over the cover on his driveway, the two benches which Liz and Breda have erected can easily be moved, the ladies replied defiantly.

“Yeah they can be moved easily but not when the three of us sit on them. The three of us never leave the estate at the same time. There’s always someone here who’ll contact the others.”

Breda and Tom are born and bred in Clogheen and Liz has lived there for a number of years, having moved over from Scotland. She has been to Dublin protesting on the issue of water charges and takes issue with the perception held by some that the cost of such a trip in terms of travel and food would nearly pay the water charge.

“Honestly it just cost me a fiver on the bus which was specially organised. Food can be brought from home.”

Tom maintained that the trio are determined to keep their protest up and not pay the charges.

“You pay through car tax and through everything you buy. The property tax was meant to include your water.”

The residents say they aren’t the only ones in Clogheen refusing to have the meters installed and know of a number in another estate doing likewise. Liz who is unemployed and lost her husband 17 months ago, declared that even if she had a million euro in the bank she still wouldn’t pay water charges.

Breda is a housewife whose husband is seeking work while Tom is in a similar situation. "The Government can’t take what we haven’t got," he says.

Irish Water confirmed to The Avondhu that their contractors were metering in the Alley Close estate and gave the following response:

“Irish Water fully respects the right to peaceful protest and endeavours to facilitate it where possible. If for any reason, including protests, work is unable to be carried out on a particular site, contractors working on behalf of Irish Water will reschedule the works at a later date.”

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