CORK County Council spends a total of €3,300 per year on both sparkling and still bottled water at Council meetings, despite a water refill station available outside the Council chamber.
The issue of bottled water being provided at Council meetings was highlighted by West Cork Councillor Isobel Towse (SD), who raised the issue at the end of last week’s meeting of the local authority, pointing out that it is leading to unnecessary waste.
‘I’m part of the Voice Ireland initiative in Clonakilty and the project encourages us to go back to work places to see where we can reduce waste,’ said Cllr Towse.
Following the meeting, Cork County Council told The Southern Star that they have committed to monitoring the usage of bottled water at Council meetings, and that elected members are encouraged to bring their own reusable bottles.
‘The bottled water supplied are glass bottles of sparkling water and Tetra Pak still water. Both bottles and cartons are fully recyclable,’ said the spokesperson.
‘Approximately 55 bottles of water in total are ordered per meeting at a cost of €2.50 per bottle. There are an average of 24 meetings a year, which gives a total cost of €3,300 per annum.’
Meanwhile, Cllr Ronan Sheehan (Lab) said he would support Cllr Towse’s motion so long as Council officials don’t get rid of the scones provided ahead of the full Council meetings! He noted that water dispensers are provided in the building.
Meanwhile, Cllr Gearóid Murphy (FF) said he thought this was a policy introduced during Covid, and his colleague, Cllr Frank O’Flynn reminded the chamber that he succeeded in introducing tea and coffee for Council meetings in 1999 and said it is good to let people have the option of taking a bottle of water or not. Cllr Ann Marie Ahern said that her Fianna Fáil colleague, Cllr Audrey Buckley fought a long battle to get plastic cups removed from the county hall.
Council chief executive Moira Murrell said the cardboard bottles can be recycled, but Cllr Towse pointed out that they are Tetra Pak packaging, and are not widely recycled.
Cllr Towse’s environmental concern made her the target of personal criticism at the meeting, too, where the issue of gas and oil options off Barryroe was discussed. Cllr Towse and her colleague Cllr Eamonn Horgan were not in favour of the motion, and Cllr Towse told The Southern Star that an elected member called her a ‘nuisance’ to her face at the
meeting.
‘I obviously wasn’t a big enough nuisance because the oil and gas motion blasted through with support from everyone except the Social Democrats, and my fellow councillors will still be getting their free bottles of water at every meeting,’ said Cllr Towse.
‘It’s shocking but totally unsurprising that I’d be called a nuisance by a colleague for speaking up for the environment.’
Cllr Towse said she raised the motion regarding the free bottles of water under AOB (Any Other Business) because she ‘didn’t think she would need to lobby 55 councillors in advance on a such a small, basic change.’
She said she has since found out that Cork City Council have had glasses of water for a number of years now and she believes Cork County Council should follow suit with the same.
