SOUTH Dublin County Council has said it intends pursuing water charges arrears, despite withdrawing a Supreme Court appeal. Yesterday the council withdrew its request to the Supreme Court to determine the intentions of new legislation aimed at simplifying legal proceedings against water charges defaulters.
"This does not mean we don't intend pursuing arrears," a council spokeswoman said. "We will go about it in a different way."
She said that when abolishing water charges last month, the Minister for the Environment, Mr Howlin, made it clear all local authorities should and would pursue unpaid water charges back to 1994 when they were introduced.
When abolishing Residential Property Tax in the Budget, the Minister for Finance, Mr Quinn, had similarly urged the collection of arrears, she said.
After refusing to permit the council to cut off a domestic supply for non payment of charges, the President of the Circuit Court, "Mr Justice Frank Spain, last year agreed to consult the Supreme Court by way of a case stated.
He held with Mr Martin Giblin SC, for Tallaght householder Mr Liam Walsh, that the 1995 legislation did not relieve local authorities of having to prove orally written statements of their records of non payments and statutory warnings issued to defaulters.
Mr John Gallagher SC, for the council, had argued that the council was entitled to obtain a court order simply on the basis of a statement signed by an authorised officer.
Mr Gallagher had submitted the intention of the legislation was to provide a speedy alternative to the expensive and time consuming process of calling witnesses in each case.
Earlier this week a test case appeal on a water charges debt recovery action by Fingal County Council was adjourned by Judge Joseph Mathews pending the outcome of the Supreme Court test case.