A COUNCILLOR IN Donegal who has been campaigning against water charges has said Irish Water registered him without his permission.
Micheál Mac Giolla Easbuig only became aware of the error when he received a letter this week from the Department of Social Protection informing him he is eligible for the €100 water conservation grant as he registered with Irish Water before the deadline.
Speaking to TheJournal.ie, Mac Giolla Easbuig said he has been calling for a boycott of the charges in his area and would “hardly register with them for the sake of €100″.
The councillor owns his house and he now wants to know where Irish Water got his information and why he was registered without his permission.
He has contacted Irish Water about it and the company has launched an investigation into the incident. An employee also called Mac Giolla Easbuig earlier today to give him some specifics about when he allegedly registered.
She said I registered on the 25th of January and on the 5th of May made contact with them again to say I didn’t want anything sent to me in the post.
However he denies ever contacting Irish Water in relation to his registration before he received the letter this week.
‘Embarrassing’
This morning he spoke to Radio Na Gaeltachta about what happened and a number of listeners called in to say the same thing happened to them.
“I believe this is deliberate on the part of Irish Water,” he said. ”I think this is going to be terribly, terribly embarrassing for them.”
When contacted by TheJournal.ie, Irish Water said it is currently investigating the issue.
It said it ran a customer validation process, asking people to return forms confirming their information.
The major of households (70%) returned the forms through the post and Irish Water takes it on good faith that those who returned the forms were members of the households to which they were addressed. Irish Water takes very seriously any allegations that anyone other than a member of the relevant household returned the forms and will investigate any such allegations thoroughly.
The company said anyone with queries in relation to their water bills should get in touch.
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