Above from left: Paul Murphy TD, Mandy Shaw, AAA activist, Ruth Coppinger TD and [Cork City] Cllr Mick Barry.
This afternoon.
Buswells Hotel, Molesworth Street, Dublin.
Members of the Anti Austerity Alliance (AAA) unveil a Private Members Motion to abolish Irish water and call for a General Election challenge by water charge campaigners
Paul Murphy sez:
“The Private Members Motion we are presenting to the Dail calls for the abolition of the water charges, Irish Water and their replacement with progressive taxation measures such as increased corporation tax, a Financial Transactions Tax or a wealth tax. In light of the empty threats which have been issued by [Environment Minister] Alan Kelly, we are offering the government a final opportunity to abolish Irish Water, scrap the water charges and attempt to save themselves before they are met with a mass boycott which will finish them and Irish Water…”
The AAA believe the water charges movement can create “new political force beyond existing parties”.
SCRAP!
(Mark Stedman/Photocall Ireland)
Mr Murphy , what is your opinion on USC?
Murphy opposes the USC.
Really, I’d join his rally against that.
Oh wait, there isn’t one ‘cos that’s only for people who work for a living.
He stated that after the water tax is defeated, he’ll turn to abolish the USC.
Will the abolishment of the USC come when the Money Tree is first planted, or upon when it first bears fruit ?
Wanker
Stay classy frilly!
‘happy wi’ the way I am Rugbee
Well start your own rally if you feel so strongly about it. Why are you winging that other people are organising against things you feel strongly about. Do it yourself instead of waiting for the socialists to do it for you
Exactly Jess
I’d be interested to know what qualifies you as the target of their ‘wealth’ tax is.
Presumably people along the lines of: Successful entrepreneurs, employers, job creators, landlords, the self-employed. All self-motivated types really.
You go get those go-getters!
over 100,000 euro earned is wealthy. Entrepreneurs get massive subsidies from government, so they should pay up.
Entrepreneurs get massive subsidies from government ? Really . Paul Murphy gets more in expenses in a year than I have received for creating 10 jobs. Murphy is very good at capturing the vote of the “entilted” . Thank God the majority of the electorTe recognise this.
Whatever about the others in your list, how is a landlord a go-getter? The rentier class produce nothing and are a bane on human existence and always have been.
Well, I think someone who invest there own money wisely in property and provides the vey real need for short term and long term rental accommodation fulfils my criteria for ‘go-getter’. But I hear your opinion.
landlords are rarely motivated by provision of housing from a standpoint of benevolence. if they were, they wouldn’t engage in the rackrenting and gougerism they’re famous for.
a bane on human existence providing housing for those who can’t afford to buy.
being an entrepreneurs doesn’t absolve you of your duty to the community.
If you are rich you should pay more. Currently we pay more and get low tax services robbed blind by the USC to pay back bank debt (among other stuff)
You’ll find that the wealthy do actually pay more and have for quite some time. Murphy and co seem to want the wealthy to pay for everything and then some.
“Job creators”- a total fallacy. An employee is an inconvenient necessity of a business, the less of them you have the better. Go into the bank with your business plan ‘to create jobs’ -won’t last long.
What I’m interested to know is how can a party be in favour of a wealth tax while at the same time campaigning against a property tax. Property is a form of wealth. In fact, it’s the most valuable form of wealth in Ireland. Any self-respecting wealth tax would have to include a tax on property.
Similarly, the USC does have varying stages of progressiveness built into it. I find it strange that individuals who identify themselves as left wing are mobilising themselves against these forms of taxation; it doesn’t seem very left wing to me.
And this is what annoys me. There is no credible left-wing alternative in Ireland. Where’s the party that comes out and says ‘From each according to his ability, to each according to his need’??
The Shinners will be jumping on this like Mary Lou on a last ever bottle of St Tropez bronzer !
*wrestles Mary Lou for last tube*
*loses* …obviously.
Obviously!
just like your lot will lose in the next general election…?
OH BURRRN!!!!
I have no lot, I buy my vegetables and the shops.
Indie all the way… if that’s what you meant ! :)
Showboating. A Private Members Motion will go nowhere and they know it.
This is what Murphy calls ‘effective protest’. Or not.
The sound of gauntlets being thrown down.
“we are offering the government a final opportunity to abolish Irish Water, scrap the water charges and attempt to save themselves before they are met with a mass boycott which will finish them and Irish Water…”
Given that bills are due to start arriving soon, the risk to AAA is that they may actually be paid by most people.
I presume that’s why they’re doing it now. I fear my fellow citizens will just roll over and pay.
I don’t align myself with AAA or any of the rest of them, but the current format of the water tax and wastefulness of IW is unfair and well.. wasteful.
I’ve no problem paying for my water, but not with a flat tax that won’t be based on consumption. And not to fund private enterprise.
I think both the government and the protest groups are missing the mood of most people, not opposed to a fair tax if we can clearly see how our money is going to be invested in improving infrastructure, not the cluster-fudge that has been Irish Water.
Do you think that Irish Water is currently a private company and if so, who do you think owns it right now?
And yes, set up was a hurried mess with piss poor leadership in IW.
First set of proposed charges last year were based fully on usage, where there was a meter installed. Cue public outcry over summer that usage reflective charges were too high. Government look at it again.
Government then decide on flat charge, with households still able to beat the capped charge where meter is in place. Cue public outcry over winter that water charge is regressive and meters are a waste of money.
Seems ye can’t win these days.
“First set of proposed charges last year were based fully on usage, where there was a meter installed. Cue public outcry over summer that usage reflective charges were too high. Government look at it again.
Government then decide on flat charge, with households still able to beat the capped charge where meter is in place. Cue public outcry over winter that water charge is regressive and meters are a waste of money.”
THIS! Ever-lovin’ this!!
No, I’m aware that Ervia is currently state owned.
Accenture is earning a fortune from Ervia – in my view purely because the government ruched ahead with this plan, with very little consultation with the people who have been running things for decades, or the people who were expected to pay for it.
they rushed, that did not ruch.
Yes, it was rushed, no doubt there. The metering was supposed to be the fair way of applying charges.
Those with modest water consumption not charged the same as pool owning, multi-bathroom mansion. But with the delays in metering roll out, that was’t possible
The AAA crowd want things back the way they were – a deteriorating, falling apart system.
“… their replacement with progressive taxation measures such as increased corporation tax”
Surely they can’t be that stupid? Paul Murphy is middle class and has a degree, he at least should know better.
Paul Murphy is a parasite. Mep by default. Then runs in my area and can’t get in. Shags off to a different area and becomes a TD. He will fight anything just to be seen so he can have the job of FULL TIME PROTESTER
He has a law degree, not economics. Has never had a job outside politics, previously described as full time socialist party activist.
I’m middle class and have a few degrees and I am a fool. Neither of those things count towards anything, really.
Kelly is that thick clown from Tipperary who sued an elderly lady over a right of way and made her life a misery. He will be history after the next election like all his fellow travellers in the Labour Party.
We are being told that water is scarce and that the world is running out of it. The same story we were told about oil and now we awash with it.
Paul murphy absolute idiot coppinger absolute idiot. Murphy went over to help the greeks to vote in idiots it has since been proved that they have not got a clue.