THE THREE Co Dublin local authorities say they will continue to seek to disconnect householders who refuse to pay water charges, despite a court ruling yesterday that may delay the disconnection process.
The President of the District Court yesterday refused to allow South Dublin County Council to disconnect water supplies to two Dublin homes because the homes were in joint ownership. Notifications that the charges were owed and that disconnection could result had been sent to just one owner. Judge Peter Smithwick, sitting in Rathfarnham District Court, ruled that both owners' should have received the same notification, and he adjourned the cases for a fortnight.
The ruling is likely to delay the local authorities' applications for disconnection of water supply by several months in these cases. The court yesterday granted 14 disconnection orders to the council, all of which also involved the awarding of costs of £300 against Templeogue householders.
The Fingal, South County Dublin and Dun Laoghaire Councils all pledged yesterday to pursue the legal actions against non payers to their conclusions.
"We will to everything necessary to get all that is owed," the South County Dublin County Manager, Mr John Fitzgerald, said yesterday. "If there are legal technicalities, we will do whatever is necessary to get past them. We owe it to the majority of "people who are paying."
He said that costs of getting over the legal technicalities would simply be added to the sum awarded against the householders when the cases were completed.
The Dun Laoghaire County manager, Mr Kevin O'Sullivan, said a similar case taken by his council had been adjourned last week because of the joint ownership issue. "We will be pursuing all cases until the bitter end", he said.
The Finance Officer of Fingal, County Council, Mr Pat Keane, said that his council had also taken a similar case involving a house that was in joint ownership, but the District Justice involved, Judge Sean Delap, had nevertheless ordered the disconnection. His council has obtained six disconnection orders so far, and was pursuing more.
The leading campaigner against water charges, Councillor Joe Higgins, said last night that the legal battle was going to cause immense problems for local authorities. He said it would take the council up to seven months to complete the procedure in the case of joint owners.