Day 12 in this stand off was like the last few days, barriers still up and blocking the footpath, but I had noticed somebody had moved the outside line of barriers which formed part of the footpath diversion into the road. Obviously a neighbour who must be sick of the look these barriers are giving to his or her road. Certainly Sierra have left them there to bully us into submission, but it is a bit like water off a duck’s back to me.
Mid-morning came and a letter in the post from Irish Water, from a chap called Ross Mulvaney, Complaints and Escalations Manager. So with the change in case numbers, my case has definitely escalated. He was writing to me after an Irish Water director, Dr John Tierney, had told him to blind me with science. It said:-
Dear Mr Malpas,
I refer to your recent letter regarding the water meter installation programme, which has been forwarded to me by Dr John Tierney for response. The Irish Water regional manager for your area has been notified and is aware of your concerns.
The installation of water meters is a public programme of work being carried out in public property by the appropriate public body
As stated in our e-mail to you of 4th March 2014, the water meters being installed by Irish Water are analogue meters fitted with an Automatic Meter Reading (AMR) device which sends data to a unit held by a meter reader. Compared to other wireless devices in the home the meter radio units being installed by Irish Water emit significantly less electro-magnetic radiation. Examples are: 1000 times less than a laptop Wi-Fi; 5000 times less than a cordless phone or baby monitor; 10,000 to 25,000 times less than a mobile phone or leakage from a microwave oven. The exposure from water meter radio transmissions is significantly below the international limits even when multiple devices are communicating simultaneously. Irish Water is satisfied that all required safety standards are being met.
Irish water will be responsible for submitting a water charges plan to the CER for their approval. Irish Water and the CER are not in a position to advise on the level of charges/allowances until this process has concluded.
Irish Water is committed to ensuring safe drinking water for all and has appointed a team with specific responsibility for tackling the issue of drinking water quality. Irish Water has prioritised the most immediate risk to public health in terms of “Boil Water Notices”.
Irish Water are currently a metering program and therefore any other queries such as water supply and quality should be directed at the specific Local Authority in that area. It is expected that Irish Water will take over responsibility for related queries in the future but this is yet to be confirmed and an exact timeframe cannot be given at this time.
I hope the information above will address your concerns regarding the water meters.
Yours sincerely,
Ross Mulvaney
Well he says in para 2 this work is being carried out”by the appropriate public body” but at the bottom of the headed letter page it says that Irish Water is a private company limited by shares with four Directors, Messrs R Hynes, M McNicholas, J Tierney and M Rae
In para 3 when he says that “Irish Water are satisfied that all required safety standards are being met” immediately tells me that they are not.
In para 4 he talks of the CER, never been mentioned before, could it be the Commission for Electromagnetic Radiation.
Para 5 says that Irish Water is committed to ensuring safe drinking water but in the para 6 it says that it has nothing to do with them. The paragraph in itself is nonsensical and means nothing.
Para 6 tells me to take my complaint elsewhere.
I replied yesterday – Day 13 :-
Mr Ross Mulvaney
Complaints and Escalations Manager
Irish water
PO Box 860
South City Delivery Office
Cork City 31st March 2014
Dear Ross,
Case Ref 7961295050
Thank you for your letter dated 27th March 2014 where you tried to explain away the health and safety hazards of your smart meters. Your argument falls down in as much as we have no control over your meter, whilst we have control over any device we might have in our home. Whilst Irish Water might be satisfied on safety levels of emissions from these meters, we are not. There is lots of information out there to convince us that they are not safe especially to pregnant women and children. The law in England says that nobody can be forced into accepting one of these meters and presumably that law should also apply here.
Certainly they violate the constitutional rights of everybody in Ireland. Article 41 of the Constitution says that the State “recognises the Family as the natural primary and fundamental unit group of Society and as a moral institution possessing inalienable and imprescriptible rights, antecedent and superior to all positive law”. The Irish Water Act attempts to bypass this and enforce a contract.
Smart meters also violate the rights of the individual under the European Convention on Human Rights under Articles 5 and 8. Medical opinion is that the introduction of smart meters will be a public health disaster akin to tobacco, leaded petrol and asbestos.
As regards you fobbing off the matter of clean drinking water as somebody else’s responsibility, only goes to show the non-existent ethics of Irish Water. If as you say you are solely “a metering programme”, do not try to charge for water in the future because access to water is a basic human right.
I am still spending a minimum of 30 euros a week to provide my family with clean drinking water which I am sure you will reimburse us with when you better understand your future responsibilities. Your letter is a damned disgrace and is a sign of Big Brother trying to preach inanities to the individual.
Also you should take an example from your local council, Cork County, who have condemned the use of fluoride in the public water supply. Surely when Ireland is the only EU country and one of only two countries in the world with a national mandatory public water fluoridation policy something must be wrong.
We suggest you get your act together and get your product fit for purpose before starting to bully us into submission and then we can talk.
Paul & Helen Malpas
5 Wooden Bridge
Boyle
Co Roscommon.
Day 13 was very foggy until the morning sun sent it on its way, I had to go to Sligo but when I returned about 11.00am the nice Garda, Trevor is his name, was just pulling up at the house. He told us that he had discussed the complaint with his Inspector who did not want to get involved but he told Tevor to go back and see us and tell us that the car will not be forcibly removed as suggested by Irish Water but that we are committing an offence by blocking part of the footpath even though I am parked on my land. Trevor said the full force of the law will be brought to bear for this offence at some stage. I again asked for him to see if I could be incarcerated in Castlerea Prison has it is handy for Helen to visit but she said if your guilty so am I and she said she would gladly share my cell because conjugal rights are allowed in Castlerea. I did not know what she meant by that but anyway we bade farewell to Trevor after telling him that when they take me away, to make sure the prison van is big enough because we could collect another 20 criminals in the town who are doing the same thing everyday by partially parking on footpaths and as he was now involved I said I would copy him in on all correspondence. He took photos of Landcruiser, who seemed to smile at the attention and he went back to some real work.
Paul, watch yersel, look what they did to Guy at Bodenham Manor. Yer nae fool, I hope all your community know that too, better to get every defence prepared, “aye ready”, that’s the way tae go.
Hold Fast, Jim Graham.
Is anyone else in Ireland making a stand? Or are they all too flouridated to care?
It’s hard to say. Certainly our stand has not been reported by either local or national media and we have not tried to publicise it other than by this blog. In the early days of the roll out a man in Dublin was refusing and two women in Wexford also and they made the national press but just the one reporting of each event. The outcomes were not reported.
I have had a good few congratulations from people delivering to the house but seen or heard nothing of any other stand.
Most people are clueless about the problem and do not seem capable of thinking about the problem, which could of course be entirely due to fluoridation causing addled minds.
On this enclave in which we live almost cut off from civilization by the Boyle River, the N4 main arterial route and wilderness, there are 10 houses and nobody but Helen and myself bothered the gang of meter men. What is worse, in the three weeks since then with barriers erected outside our house and causing an infinitely worse hazard than my car parked on our land, none of our neighbours have tried to engage us in conversation on the subject. I do realise that we have become pariahs by our actions in the past but you would think that the situation would deserve some comment. However I quite like pariahdom.