Water charges concern for Cork's Middle Parish community centre

Concern has been raised that water charges being levied at a Cork city community centre will place a major burden on the centre and put its many services at risk. The Middle Parish community centre at Grattan St operates under a long-term lease arrangement with the Cork City Council for the next 130 years.

The centre provides services to the community including daily AA meetings, dance classes, counselling, a gym, older persons’ groups, and a wide range of community education, health and wellbeing programmes. They also plan to introduce additional exercise classes, bingo, Tai Chi, and a not-for-profit community coffee shop.

However, George Patterson, chairperson of the Middle Parish Community Association, said they recently received correspondence regarding water charges, and are “deeply concerned” that they will place a “significant financial burden” on the community centre.

“Any additional operational costs directly reduce our ability to maintain services, keep room hire affordable for local groups, and ensure the centre remains accessible to the community.

“Furthermore, a substantial portion of the centre’s operational funding is provided through public grants and local authority support. The application of water charges in this context results in public funding effectively being recycled back into the local authority or another State body, rather than being used for its intended purpose.”

He called for the centre to be exempted from water charges.

A spokesperson for Uisce Éireann told The Echo that the utility body is regulated by the Commission for Regulation of Utilities (CRU), and follows a framework set out by them.

“Uisce Éireann cannot introduce exemptions, special criteria or alternative tariffs for individual customers or sectors. Many not-forprofit organisations, including charities, sporting bodies and community groups, pay for the water services they use.”