Limerick charity shop boss gets eye-watering bill from Uisce Eireann

A CHARITY shop manager has received an eye-watering bill from Uisce Eireann.

Paul Ryan, who manages a Vincent’s shop in the city centre, has received a demand for €2,628.38 from the firm formerly known as Irish Water.

But he says in reality, those volunteering and working in the shop would have used a fraction of that.

“There’s no way we would go through that level of water. We might as well be washing the toilet with champagne - it’d be cheaper than this,” he said.

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The furniture shop - whose proceeds help homelessness charity St Vincent de Paul - only opened two-and-a-half years ago.

And Mr Ryan believes in this time, there would have been just €80 spent on water.

He pointed to a meter outside the shop which also shows a spend of just €180 in eight years - with the premises empty for five of these.

Householders do not pay water charges - but they are levied on commercial premises like Vincent’s.

The charity shop boss has made a number of attempts to call Uisce Eireann about the bill without satisfaction.

Mr Ryan says all volunteers on site would be doing is filling the kettle and flushing the toilet a few times a day.

In 2022, Vincent’s opened across four units at Palmerstown Court beside the Milk Market.

In order to cut down on water usage, toilet and sink facilities were stripped out to just the one they have today.

“People have said we should just pay it. But why should we? We have a team who have worked so hard to raise the money for the charity. And then just to hand over €2,500 for nothing? We’ve used nothing to that value. Since we’ve opened this shop, we’ve raised almost €700,000 in sales. We have high bills, high rents, we have a van to pay for,” he said.

Uisce Eireann said it could not comment on individual customer accounts.