by Joan Quirke

People Before Profit Council candidate Colm Bryce last night highlighted the case of a pensioner in Foyle Road, who has still not been compensated after severe flooding in his flat over Xmas.
Michael James Murray, who has lived at 42 Foyle Road for 26 years, had his flat extensively damaged when the pipes in the flat upstairs burst during the freeze over Xmas. New carpets and a suite of furniture were damaged beyond repair. For months he has been left with a single chair and a TV as his only furniture. He has since managed to borrow a suite of furniture from a friend, on a temporary basis. He still has no carpets in the main living room or the hallway.
Mr Murray’s Housing Executive flat sits directly below a privately owned flat. The tenants were spending Xmas with family and Mr Murray could not gain access to the flat above which was flooding, after frozen pipes thawed. Water poured through the ceiling. The damage was so bad that he was forced to move in with his niece for 5 weeks, having no access to any other accommodation.
Both the Housing Executive and the private landlord have denied any responsibility or liability for the damage. The Housing Executive, when contacted by Mr Bryce yesterday, said that they are not responsible for water leaking into their property from a privately owned flat. They say that Mr Murray might have the right to make a claim under their public liability insurance but “going on previous experience, it is unlikely to be successful”.

On the day when the People Before Profit Alliance launched its Election Campaign Launch, United Left Alliance candidates Joe Higgins MEP & Cllr Joan Collins have said pressure on the Government from the EU to privatise domestic water supply must stop.
The Dublin-based candidates yesterday protested outside the European Commission’s Dublin offices, claiming the commission is putting pressure on the Government to privatise water services.
They handed in a letter for commission president José Manuel Barroso in which they noted “with dismay” the requirement in the EU-IMF Memorandum of Understanding that “the public provision of water services is to end and this function is to be transferred to a utility company”.
The memorandum, signed by Minister for Finance Brian Lenihan last December, stated: “We are also planning to move towards full cost-recovery in the provision of water services.”
It also said that in advance of introducing charges, the Government will have undertaken an independent assessment of transfer of responsibility for water services provision to a water utility and “prepare proposals for implementation as appropriate with a view to start charging in 2012-2013”.
Joe Higgins, a candidate in Dublin West, said Veolia, which operates the Luas, was already charging for water in Sligo and had “made inquiries about Ireland’s reservoirs”. According to its website, Veolia also has water operating contracts in Wicklow, Limerick, Westmeath, Waterford, Dublin, Mayo and Donegal.