Man dead 11 years billed by Irish Water

By DÓNAL NOLAN IRISH Water’s billing hit a shambolic new low this week after a Listowel woman received a bill in the name of her deceased partner more than a decade after he died.

Betty O’Sullivan Halpin said the bill she received last week brought painful emotions back to the surface, leaving her feeling deeply hurt.

She is also trying to find out where Irish Water got the information to bill her home in Dromin in the name of her late partner John Gleeson who died at the tragically young age of 33 in 2004.

“It was a bit of a shock to get the bill and I simply don’t understand where Irish Water are getting their information from. I’ve heard similar things happening to people, but not after so long. It is very disrespectful,” Ms O’Sulivan Halpin told The Kerryman.

The company has since apologised for the error, saying the information was gleaned from an unspecified database.

Ms O’Sulivan Halpin would like to know exactly which database they are referring to as all information regarding the house is long in her name.

“John died in 2004 and the ownership of the home was transferred to me some years later so if they had worked from the Land Registry they would have seen it was in my name. If this was in the first few years after his death you would say one thing, but I haven’t received anything in John’s name in years. I know the transfer of property doesn’t take this long.”

Ms O’Sulivan Halpin has not received any official post in her late partner’s name in years, with all bills to the home in hers.

The blunder has just served to legitimise her own decision not to sign up to the controversial quango.

“If he was alive and not paying tax they wouldn’t be long getting the information right. I have no intention of signing up to Irish Water and obviously if I had registered they would have had my name right. But we’re already paying for water and I’m taxed to the hilt as it is. I’m working full-time, 39 hours a week and studying for my finals in college at the same time.”

“This whole thing has been very disrespectful and hurtful and it has brought up a lot of emotions I would rather not have to deal with again,” Ms O’Sullivan Halpin said.