Public Meeting on Monday

galway | environment | press release Friday April 27, 2007 19:30 by Galway water crisis

Statement to clarify our position about the public meeting called for this Monday 30th April

While we agree with the People Before Profit Alliance that we all have to cooperate on this issue (and may we take this opportunity to thank the group for bringing the PA to the protest last Monday and to congratulate them on the plastic bottle idea- it worked very well and made a good point), we feel that if we associate ourselves with any particular group we run the risk of alienating other people.We do not want to take ownership of this crisis, nobody wants to do that. It would be good if some of the gombeens in the government and the council officials at least took some responsibility for the crisis. We have submitted letters requesting a meeting with the council officials, the EPA and the HSE where they can address the public and take part in a question and answer session. We believe that time should be allowed for these agencies to respond to this request before another public meeting is called. We fully support People before Profit in their endeavors to form a campaign group but as was said earlier we would prefer to remain a forum for the public that is inclusive of all the ordinary people out there in Galway and we do not want to affiliate ourselves with any group as that would be against our original ethos. However, we think that the more groups coming at this debacle from as many angles as possible will eventually be the most effective way of conveying the message that we all want - Clean Water!
We hope this clarifies our position