Tuesday 4th November 2014
Words are cheap and so the Labour Minister, Alan Kelly, and Irish Water’s John Tierney were told by their PR advisors to say ‘sorry’. But the overall message from the FG-Labour government is that we are still going to try and bully you.
The propaganda war started with Enda Kenny’s absurd claim that abolition of the water charges would lead to a 4 percent increase on the higher rate of tax. The back-up chorus came from Jack O'Connor, the leader of SIPTU, who also claimed that abolition would lead to tax hikes. O'Connor has long ago ceased to speak for his members but operates primarily as a Labour Party hack.
The reality is that the water charges will only raise an additional €140 million when account is taken of the latest round of concessions. That small figure could be paid for by a ban on the use of consultants in the public sector.
‘Too simplistic,’ our learned economists scream. According to these ‘experts’ the public does not seem to understand that under Eurostat rules, borrowing by Irish Water will be ‘off balance’ provided that half of its revenue comes from charges. There has been a ‘communications problem’ and the people just don’t understand that the charges are in fact, as Richard Bruton put it, a job creation, ’anti-austerity measure’.
The brazenness of this argument is astounding. The government has already cut back its investment in Irish Water by 33 percent and plans to have it ‘self-funded’ by 2018. In other words, they want to borrow more and pay extra interest – on top of an existing interest burden of €8 billion a year – rather than use our taxes for a public service. If there is a need for additional capital investment, it could be raised from extra taxes on the wealthy and the corporate sector.
However, the government's main response to the mass protest is not argument but rather threats. After the protests, they started talking about a flat rate charge for a few years for those who register and a penal charge of over €450 for those who don’t. It is a blatant attempt to get people to pay something, knowing that once the charge is in they can raise it when the heat dies down.
When a government does not listen to the 200,000 who braved rains to march last Saturday, there can only be one response: STEP UP THE PRESSURE-ESCALATE THE ACTION.
December 10th has been nominated as the next major protest by the Right to Water campaign. They are calling for a gigantic assembly at the Dail at 1pm.
We should turn that day into a STAY AWAY day and shut the country down. We should take the day off from work or from colleges and descend on the Dail.
This will take some organising and the best way to do this is to involve the broadest number of people. We need local assemblies to bring together activists to discuss how December 10th can be Ireland largest ever ‘stay away’ and to consider further local actions.
Where possible we should also organise similar assemblies at break time in our workplaces.
And, lastly, those who are members of SIPTU should start to carry the spirit of the water charges movement into the heart of their union and sweep away the Labour Party leadership that is destroying their union.
The government is on the ropes and we need to deliver the knockout blow.
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