Fine Gael councillor Laura McGonigle has today issued an apology in relation to some comments she made on her Facebook page over the weekend about protesters marching against water charges.
Ms. McGonigle, a Cork city councillor, said that protesters ‘should collect rainwater while marching and drink it for a week.’
Such disingenuous remarks came against the background of tens of thousands of people marching nationwide, including Cork, with people voicing their wrath against water charges.
Today, she has issued an apology regarding such comments, and has also clarified that her intention was to ‘highlight the fact that rainwater is unsafe to drink, and it costs the State over €1.2bn to make safe for human consumption.’
Furthermore, she accepted that the comments made through her Facebook account were ‘open to misinterpretation’, and that she was ‘very sorry for any offence caused by such ill-judged comments.’
McGonigle has been a councillor for the South East Ward of Cork since 2009.
The offending comments were subsequently deleted from her Facebook page, but some screenshots had already leaked out.