Fairies ripping out 10 water meters a week

A clandestine local group has claimed responsibility for the unlawful removal of hundreds of water meters from outside homes and businesses across the county.
Part of a growing nationwide movement, the Cavan Meter Fairies (CMF) claim they have supported tampering or the removal of Irish Water-owned meters at a rate of up to 10 a week, sometimes more since the group’s inception.
Boasting about 12 members among their ranks, and promoting their anti-water charge campaign across social media, CMF say they want “to rid homes of unwanted water meters that have been forced on them by a corrupt Government that forgets that they work for us”.
A recent video showing a CMF member removing an Irish Water water meter in Mullagh in the east of the county went viral when posted online, notching up almost 12,000 views online.
When The Anglo-Celt spoke to a CMF spokesperson last week, they claimed to have removed one such meter in the Ballyjamesduff area as recently as just the night before, stating they are training others and receiving requests from members of the public to remove meters on a regular basis.
“The video in Mullagh wasn’t the first, just the first we decided to video to show people how easy it is not only to remove a meter but also to tamper with your water supply.
It was to highlight the dangers people are facing with these meters and most don’t even know.
These meters were forced on the nation, nobody asked for them, it is not about water conservation, it’s a racket of corruption from a government with its EU blinkers on.”
The CFM are the latest group of anti-water meter activists offering to remove people’s meters and using social media pages to advertise their illegal services online.
“We’ve trained people around the county to show them how to take them out. We’re not sure how many we’ve taken out, but well over 100.
But if you look at the amount of groups around the country, they are well spread out so we have coverage to take meters out countrywide,” the CFM spokesperson said.
While Irish Water does not have any county-specific data in relation to successful meter reads, as of March 31 last, the number of meters not providing a reading was less than one per cent nationally.

Criminal offence
A spokesperson for the semi-State company also stated that under the Water Services Act 2007, it remains a criminal offence for a person to remove, damage or impair the proper working of a meter.
In addition, it is a criminal offence for a person to cause such removal, damage or impairment. A person who commits such an offence is liable, upon conviction, to a fine not exceeding €5,000 or imprisonment for a term of up to three months, or both.
Undeterred, CFM say they will continue with their campaign “until Irish Water has been abolished”.
“We want our children to read in their history books about the time the nation grew a back bone and said, ‘We’ve had enough’.
These meters are dangerous and our Government are playing a dangerous game, which will see them in the history books for all the wrong reasons,” CFM say.