Top Issue 1-2024

13 February 2013

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‘Big Phil’ Hogan bottles out of water meter meeting at last minute

‘That Big Phil chose to run away from the public event shows that he doesn’t have the courage of his convictions to face the people.’

UNDER-PRESSURE Fine Gael Environment Minister Phil Hogan bottled out of a conference on water meters in west Dublin at the last minute on Tuesday night as dozens of campaigners against the property and water taxes protested outside.

Clondalkin Sinn Féin Councillor Matthew McDonagh said Hogan’s no-show demonstrate “he is running scared of the people”.

Hogan had been invited to address the Association of Heating and Plumbing Contractors Ireland (AHPCI) at the Louis Fitzgerald Hotel on the Naas Road about the installation of water meters in homes as part of the Government’s introduction of water taxes. But Hogan failed to show up and people there were told this was down to “security concerns”.

Outside the hotel, dozens of protesters from various organisations, including Sinn Féin and the Campaign Against the Household and Water Taxes (CAHWT), staged a noisy demonstration calling for a scrapping of the controversial taxes.

Sinn Féin Councillor Matthew McDonagh said at the end of the night:

“That Big Phil chose to run away from the public event shows that he doesn’t have the courage of his convictions to face the people. Sinn Féin will continue to campaign against Fine Gael’s and Labour’s unjust property and water taxes.”

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