Thousands of young couples moving into new houses in rural areas will not receive a grant where water supply to their homes has been provided by way of a private well, the chairman of the ICMSA's farm services, Mr Maurice Harvey, said yesterday.
The Minister for the Environment has "sold a pup to the people of rural Ireland on the water charges issue", Mr Harvey said. "It is a grave social injustice that people with houses currently under construction, or who have built their houses within the last 10 years, are not eligible for a grant towards the cost of providing water supply if they have to sink their own wells."