Sir, In her article on water charges, Nuala Haughey states that Dublin city was the only part of the State where water charges did not, and do not exist. As chairperson of the Limerick anti service charges campaign, we ran a protracted campaign which involved us in turning on and reconnecting over a thousand houses, some of which were disconnected on ten or more occasions. In reply, Limerick Corporation had us before the District Court, the Circuit Court and the High Court, as well as in squad cars, paddy wagons and Garda cells.
As you can imagine, the campaign was widespread and at, times very bitter. At the local elections of 1991, we decided to challenge the political establishment and we endorsed a slate of candidates, some which were existing councillors, who had done the honourable thing in opposing service charges, coupled with others who had worked on our campaign.
I stood as an independent and with the support of ACRA, whose officer board came from Dublin to speak on my behalf, we used the local elections as a referendum on this issue. We gained a majority on Limerick City Council, and I got the second highest vote in the election. By Christmas we had abolished water charges sewage charges and refuse charges, which a previous council had inflicted on us.
Every year since, the City Manager has included service charges in the book of estimates, and we have removed them. We are proud that Limerick has led they in the fight for fair taxation, and we write to set the record straight. Yours, etc., City Hall, Limerick City.