A strategy by Dublin councils to bring thousands of householders through the courts to force them to give up their water charges protest is in tatters, according to a claim by the Federation of Dublin AntiWater Charges Campaigns.
In a statement it says a test case in which South Dublin County Council sought a judgment against a Rathfarnham householder for water charges was thrown out of a District Court yesterday, and all the remaining 20 cases have been adjourned to April 1997.
On Wednesday, the statement points out, a case was dismissed by District Justice Connellan in Swords on other grounds. The 94 remaining cases in Swords were then adjourned to April 1997.
Up to now, the federation says, Dublin councils have not been able to disconnect a single member of the campaign, "because of the massive opposition mounted in the courts and outside".
"The councils are now trying the civil process," the federation says.
However, as is now clear the civil process will equally be a nightmares as decent, tax compliant PAYE workers who form the backbone off this campaign will resist it."
It says "There only remains for the political parties to recognise that the water tax is dead and to abolish it formally."