A Tide In The Affairs Of Men

at

1

2

3

4

This morning.

Leinster House, Government Buildings, Dublin 2

TDs, including Sinn Féin’s Eoin Ó Broin, Catherine Murphy, co-leader of the Social Democrats and Richard Boyd Barrett hold a press conference reacting to the Final Draft Report of the Joint Committee on the Future Funding of Domestic Water Services.

The final recommendations include refunds for householders who paid their charges, the funding of domestic water services through general taxation, and the installation of meters at apartment blocks.

However…

….these recommendations have resulted in a bitter political row between Fine Gael which is opposed to them, and Fianna Fáil, Sinn Fein and Solidarity, who support them.

FIGHT!

Water charges: FG does not have to act on report, says Varadkar (Irish Times)

Rollingnews

Update:

G’wan Catherine.

Sponsored Link

64 thoughts on “A Tide In The Affairs Of Men

      1. hieronymus tosh

        Jesus Christ mate, give it a rest will ya, every day with the same horsepoop. You don’t particularly like Fine Gael, big swingin male appendage, who fuppin does? Why don’t you step outside the bunker for a while, you may just avoid the aneurysm you’ve been workin on

  1. Murtles

    Fine Gael : The flip flopping, U-turning, backtracking Party.

    A scare mongering move regarding fines from Europe for water. Even if it were true they’re quite happy to pay the yearly fines for lumping VRT onto new cars?

          1. jusayinlike

            Rob your link is about registering a car abroad and has nothing to do with vrt, my link highlights the hypocrisy of the state whining about keeping with eu regulations whilst at the same breaking them and incurring any resultant fines..

  2. Owen

    I came to the comment section to see options on the matter as I simply don’t have one. I could not give a stones which party agrees to what. Just sort it out, then come back to us with the agreed plan…. one that sees water for all, paid for by all.

      1. Cian

        no, only some people get fresh water to their house. But everyone pays for that.

        If you’re rural, you pay through general taxation for urban people’s water, and pay privately for your own.

        1. Increasing Displacement

          Yes this annoys me

          But then I remember the bulk of people are in cities and they help fund the long roads to rural houses

        2. Sheik Yahbouti

          Yeah, grand Cian – keep working that good old urban/rural, working class/middle class divide :-D. Straight out of the good old FG playbook.

          1. Cian

            Sheik ,

            I was replying to Owen’s original “water for all, paid for by all” and your reply “We already have that system”.

            We don’t have that system.

  3. Andyourpointiswhatexactly?

    Jaysus. Chat away about the issues, lads: I’m just commenting on the fact we’re a fugly nation.

  4. Nigel

    It’s not the worst thing about the IW fiasco, but somehow after the money, the sinecures, the setbacks to conservation and infrastructural maintenance, what I can’t get over is what a stupidly colossal waste of bloody time the whole thing is as it rolls on and on without feckin end.

  5. Ben Redmond

    None of those bull faced reps are going to turn water into wine. We’ll continue to import it from Europe’s wine lake. Prost!

  6. Baffled

    The same TDs will be the first to complain the next time boil water notices are issued due to our country’s unwillingness to properly finance infrastructure projects.

    Furthermore, the notion that you would charge for water out of general taxation is simply preposterous. Why not extend that approach to electricity and natural gas?

    1. sǝɯǝɯʇɐpɐq

      @Baffler
      Because it’s water.
      It’s much more difficult to live without than gas and electricity. It’s kinda like a human necessity.

      Furthermore, saying’ … the notion that you would charge for water out of general taxation is simply preposterous’. is simply preposterous.
      Just sayin’

      1. Rob_G

        Food is also a human necessity – should we pay for this through general taxation, also?

      2. Cian

        …then they should remove the charge for water, and double the charge for removal of waste water.

      1. Isallimsaying

        The ignorance here is only gobsmacking. Yes, there’ll prolly be EU fines, and yes there’ll be a shortage of funds to maintain the infrastructure and treat our water. But is it not obvious in the extreme that water is a commodity costing us money: charge people €100 for €50 worth of water and explain the rest has leaked out and we can’t afford to fix the leaks, explain how the guy with the swimming pool, watering his 5 acres of land won’t be charged extra because da peepul wouldn’t allow meters be installed, and how our kids will resent how many different ways we can fcuk up our environment.
        Why do FG want to charge for water? It’s political suicide, but it’s the right thing to do. Remember when Dukes backed the Tallaght Agreement cos it was good for the country, when he could have brought down the Haughey Administration? And then remember what happened when FF bought the electorate back in the 70’s.

        1. MoyestWithExcitement

          “explain how the guy with the swimming pool, watering his 5 acres of land won’t be charged extra because da peepul wouldn’t allow meters be installed,”

          So we shouldn’t provide a public service because rich people benefit from it?

  7. Joe Small

    That lot couldn’t agree on anything else but their opposition to something unpopular.

    1. Kieran Nice Young Chap

      “I’ve cracked it! People don’t like paying taxes!”

      – “But we’re left-wing. Surely we should support raising taxes to fund government-provided goods and services?”

      “Shut up you fool, we’ll get telly appearances and a TD’s pension out of this, and won’t ever have to do anything!”

      1. MoyestWithExcitement

        “I’ve cracked it! People don’t like paying taxes!”

        – “But we’re right-wing. Surely we should support lowering of taxes to stimulate demand, small government and advocating the efficiency of the private sector?”

        “Shut up you fool, we’ll get telly appearances and a TD’s pension out of this, and won’t ever have to do anything!”

        1. Kieran Nice Young Chap

          Except that water charges are standard across the EU and OECD, regardless of right or left-wing governments. Like property charges. So your ‘clever’ twist doesn’t hold up.

          Stick to trying to start fights. You have a real talent there.

          1. MoyestWithExcitement

            “Except that water charges are standard across the EU and OECD, regardless of right or left-wing governments. Like property charges. So your ‘clever’ twist doesn’t hold up.”

            I *literally* LOL’ed at that. Why don’t you toddle off and call Johnny Keenan a “tool” and a “crank” again or something. You’re not very good at the grown up debating thing. Bullying people seems to be all you know and you’re not even good at it. :D

          2. jusayinlike

            “except that water charges are standard across EU and OECD countries with right or left wing governments”

            Link to a left-wing EU country with water and property charges please Kieran

          3. Rob_G

            AFAIK, Ireland is unique in the EU to have neither domestic water charges nor property taxes.

            There isn’t really a definition for ‘left-wing country’ – but Belgium would probably fit your criteria.

  8. Rugbyfan

    Christ do any of them spend their large salaries on decent clothes?

    embarrassment to all concerned!

    1. Kieran Nice Young Chap

      It’s a patronizing charade to convince ‘ordinary decent people’ they’re just like them.

  9. pat okelly

    I always was and still am happy to pay for water on a metered basis -that way I pay for MY water -all the protestor’s have achieved is to have the burden put back on the already overburdened PAYE workers (simply amazing that so PAYE workers protested to increase their tax bill !) – Any refund I get will be donated to Focus or Simon to benefit those that have no houses in the first place

    1. olllie

      you miss the point Pat, I reckon no-one who works for a living has a problem with paying for water. I don’t, but I want general taxation to drop accordingly but I know it won’t.
      Don’t forget that the original charge was the highest in Europe, we all know that once a charge is introduced it will constantly increase, so what’s your threshold? €1,000 a year, 2, 3?
      Also, IW was structured so it can be sold off. No other reason.
      Tell me, how many of the 120 Audi A6s bought by IW fix a leak? That’s a fleet of cars worth in excess of €6 million.

      1. pok

        Paye rates did drop at time charges were introduced -privatise water with competition and that will keep prices down as in gas electricity food and almost everything else

          1. pok

            try this -fly to say London 30 years ago cheapest fare probably £200 enter Ryanair ….well ye know the rest

        1. ollie

          Yes Pok, our private banks charge the lowest mortgage rates in Europe.
          Our electricity and gas likewise
          Our food and drink, well you can’t give it away
          VAT, income tax, health insurance, refuse charges, apartment management fees, even the cost of funerals is lower than low.
          Please run for election. you have my vote.
          Now Pok off.

        2. ollie

          “Paye rates did drop at time charges were introduced”.
          Really? Fake news. PAYE rates haven;t dropped in years.

          1. Rob_G

            pok was wrong in that it was USC that was reduced, rather than PAYE; but correct in that water charges were introduced with a corresponding reduction in income tax.

      2. Cian

        “Tell me, how many of the 120 Audi A6s bought by IW fix a leak? That’s a fleet of cars worth in excess of €6 million.”
        can you provide any evidence to support this?

        1. Deluded

          All joking aside, the only reference I could find for these Audis is the journal.ie comments.
          What I did find was a car allowance for senior staff – 9people x €10,500

  10. Eoin

    FGs defence of IW is nothing short of mental illness. They cannot possibly win as long as they keep on backing IW. Accept the loss of this battle and move on or face losing the entire war as a result.

Comments are closed.

Sponsored Link
Broadsheet.ie