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By Sean Moriarty

Members of the Kerry branch of the Irish Hotel Federation have expressed concern following Irish Water’s decision to increase water charges in Kerry.

The new charges will come into effect on May 1 - just as the 2020 tourist season gets underway.

Irish Water wants to streamline water charges across the country. Currently,  Kerry, outside of the Tralee area, is the third cheapest in the country at €1.93 per cubic metre. Wicklow is the most expensive at €3.04 per cubic metre.

Irish Water wants to increase the charge of incoming water to €3.50 across the country to make charging “more equitable and not to unduly discriminate between customers”.

Local businesses learned of the changes after Irish Water officials visited some hotels in Killarney last weekend.  For some businesses water charges could double and there will be a further increase in costs of disposing of waste water.

However, hoteliers and other businesses in Killarney have raised concerns that this is another increase in the cost of doing business.

“This is massively worrying for all our members,” Tracy Coyne who was speaking on behalf of the Kerry branch of the IHF and the newly formed Kerry Tourism Industry Federation said.