Refusal to accept anti-water charges petition ‘an insult’

Anti-water charge campaigners on Monday night claimed Cork City Council had insulted the people of Cork by refusing to accept a petition opposing water charges signed by some 15,000 people.

The People's Convention had spent the past nine months collecting the signatures from people in Cork and had planned to hand it in at Cork City Hall before Monday evening's council meeting.

People's Convention spokesman Diarmuid Ó Cadhla said the group had informed Cork City Council two weeks ago of its intention to hand in the petition to Lord Mayor Cllr Mary Shields at City Hall.

“We were told that the Lord Mayor would not be available and we were told that we could post in the petition, but that was not acceptable to us so we decided to go ahead this evening and present it.

“The petition has been signed by 15,000 people - that’s 10 per cent of the people of Cork city and if you exclude children, it’s probably more like 30 per cent - and they deserve to have their views acknowledged.

‘Democratic views’

“We weren’t asking for Cork City Council to agree with us, but simply for the Lord Mayor or the Deputy Lord Mayor to receive the petition from us in recognition of people’s democratic views.

“But the council chose not to do that and that, to our mind, that is an insult to the people of Cork who asked us to convey their views on the water charges to the council through this petition.”

Mr Ó Cadhla confirmed a number of Fianna Fáil councillors did meet with the 70 or so members of the People's Convention and offered to receive the petition, but they declined the offer.

“They came down to us and told that as they were the largest political grouping on Cork City Council, they would receive the petition from us, but that wasn’t acceptable to us,” he said.

“People signed the petition on the basis that we would present it to the body that represents all of the people of Cork, and Fianna Fáil councillors do not represent all of the people of Cork.”

Mr Ó Cadhla said the People’s Convention is holding a committee meeting on Tuesday night and they will decide then on what course of action they would take regarding the petition.

Fianna Fáil Cllr Sean Martin said Lord Mayor Cllr Mary Shields was representing Cork in San Francisco, and Deputy Lord Mayor Cllr Kenneth O'Flynn had a meeting with an international group at City Hall.

“The Fianna Fáil members of the council had a meeting and we decided to go down to meet the group and accept the petition and bring it to council on behalf of the people who signed it.

“But the People’s Convention refused our offer point-blank, which was a pity because we would have been happy to present the petition to officials at Cork City Council,” he said.