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Social Democrats, from left: Stephen Donnelly Catherine Murphy and Roisin Shorthall this morning at Wood Quay Venue, Civic Offices, Wood Quay,

This morning.

The three founders of Social Democrats shared their plans and ambitions for the new party.

Some highlights:

We have to move towards a much more open approach to decision making.  In that context we favour the abolition of the Official Secrets Act and its replacement with a modern approach underpinned by a general presumption that, wherever possible, openness is the key to good governance.

We need to make the Cabinet accountable to the Dail and we need to make the Dail relevant to people again.

People are paying attention to the detail of politics in a way I have never seen before we can no longer tolerate a situation where Ministers avoid answering questions or rely on spin to confuse people.

If we truly believe in democracy we have to allow our democratic systems  to evolve with us, to ensure the institutions that make up a healthy democracy are valued and prioritised. The establishment of an Electoral Commission, with very wide remit is a must. Not only can it be a powerful watchdog on politics; it can act as an agent for the ongoing renewal that is needed.

Our legal and political systems are supposed to be separate.  If we truly have a separation of powers we must end the political appointment of judges.

Catherine Murphy TD

Lots can be done in the short term. Things like resolving the mortgage crisis. Better supporting Irish businesses. And providing high quality and affordable childcare.  And while we’re doing these things, we need to start working on the longer term. We need coherent planning – in areas like healthcare, infrastructure, housing and pensions. We need a modern approach to implementation – starting with clear objectives, tracking progress, improving, and refining what we do.
And we need to start asking big, ambitious questions. How do we get a top 5 education system in the next 10 years? How do we replicate the foreign direct investment success for Irish businesses? How do we create a modern, community-based healthcare system? How do we ensure everyone has sufficient income in retirement? How do we increase living standards and our global competitiveness at the same time?

Stephen Donnelly TD

We came to the conclusion that we shared a lot of the same goals – Progress, Equality, Democracy, Sustainability and a commitment to the Nordic model of social democracy. We worked well together and decided to set about starting this new political party.
Political reform must be underpinned by a strong commitment to Social Justice and Equality. We know, for example, that the first 5 years in a child’s life are the most important, yet these years receive the least political attention and the least investment.

A major priority for the Social Democrats will be to ensure that every child gets the best possible start in life. We also commit to breaking the cycle of deprivation where one in eight children in our country lives in poverty.

Dealing with disadvantage will ensure the right of every child to reach their potential and that, of course, also benefits society as a whole. We want to promote an enterprise culture that encourages innovation and commercial success.  A strong SME sector offers the best prospect of long-term sustainable jobs.

And we want to ensure decent standards of employment so that what happened to workers in Clerys and in Dunnes’ Stores, and indeed, what happened to pensioners in Aer Lingus and Waterford Crystal, cannot happen again.

Roisin Shorthall TD

FIGHT!

Earlier: ‘We Are The @SocDems’


(Sam Boal/Photocall Ireland)

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Irish Water’s Elizabeth Arnett

Before Alan Kelly’s bruising appearance [on RTÉ Radio One’s Today with Sean O’Rourke] Elizabeth Arnett, head of communications at Irish Water spoke to Gavin Jennings on Morning Ireland.

Some morning, in fairness.

Gavin Jennings:“Elizabeth Arnett, less than half of households have paid up, do you accept that a clear majority have now said no to water charges?”

Elizabeth Arnett: “Well I think we’re six weeks in to the billing process for water services and to date 675,000 households are paying, which means that two million people woke up this morning, turned on their tap and flushed their toilet and they’re paying for that service.
It’s 46% of the revenue we targeted for this first quarter of billing so clearly we do have work to do, but I will say that 12 weeks in with no reminders having been sent out that we are very much in line with the expectations as to where we thought we would be at this point in time. UK utilities, which have been sending out water charges bills for over 20 years have on average a 3 month waiting period before customers pay their bill, that’s the average time 20 years into their billing process; we’re 12 weeks in we have sent no reminders and we have 46% of the revenue in. Now it’s a solid start, but clearly we have to move forward from here.”

Jennings: “A solid start? Less than 1/2 of people have paid, a clear majority have rejected water charges. Do you accept that?”

Arnett: “I don’t accept that this is an indication of a rejection. I think that 12 weeks in with no reminders issued to people, no sanctions….”

Jennings:“No reminders?”

Arnett: “No reminders issued.”

Jennings: “Representatives of your company or indeed from the government have been on national radio and television regularly over the last couple of months reminding people when they had to pay their water charges.”

Arnett: “Well let me tell you what utility companies do, that may be what governments do but when they issue bills to customers they also follow up with reminders and utility experience will tell us that reminders are what drives people to pay and what drives increases to pay. We didn’t issue any reminders as part of this billing cycle, in fact we know that up to 5% of our customers didn’t actually receive bills because we don’t have their information and taking that mitigating factor into account we’re almost half way where we needed to be and where we expected to be This is the first time this charge has been issued as a bill and the first time people have received this and over the last 12 weeks we’ve taken 140,000 phone calls from our customers engaging with us about the bill, to understand it, to get into the process of paying the bill. It does take time for new charges to bed down and we accept that and we have put in place from the outset financial facilities to ensure that we are fully funded by 2015 because we expect to be here.”

Jennings:“How many did you expect to pay by the end of the first billing period?”

Arnett: “Well it’s very difficult to put a figure on this because this is the first time.”

Jennings: “Did you have an expectation?”

Arnett: “No, because this is the first time. What we did expect that we wouldn’t have everyone paying, and that we needed to have a facility put in place…”

Jennings: Did you have a target?

Arnett: “No. We haven’t a target specifically set for the first bill. What we have is by 2015 a target of €271 million from domestic customers.”

Jennings: “Of which you have €30 million by the end of June?”

Arnett: “The first billing cycle has yielded 30.5 million and we do expect that figure will increase as we send the second bill as we send reminders and as we increase the normal utility bill cycle over cycles 3 and 4 we do expect that number to increase.”

Jennings: ‘Why do you think that less than 1/2 of people have paid?”

Arnett: “Well, I think the first thing I would say is to thank those people who have paid, and the first thing I would say is that there will always be an issue in terms of people who cannot pay and will not pay or won’t pay. For those people who cannot pay there is a very important message today, this bill, the maximum you owe today is 64 Euros 11 cents, the minimum payment we will take today, from any day, is 5 Euros, so now is the time to take control of that bill.
The conservation grant – and 1.4 million households have registered for that, 1.1 of which are Irish Water customers, will be paid in September and that can be used to help reduce the bill, 4 out of 10 people who have a meter are paying, are billed substantially less than the 64.10 or the 40 Euros, so for those people conserving water with a meter and using the facilities that are available that’s the message to them, for those people who will not pay there’s an important message here, nobody this morning is saying we don’t need to invest in water services, that we don’t need to address the 49% leaks, that we don’t need to lift boiled water notices as we have in Roscommon recently, that we don’t need to address the head room or the lack of waste water treatment in 44 towns, we need to invest in water services, domestic revenue is giving us an opportunity to do that.”

Jennings: “For those who haven’t paid and who receive their next bill in the next couple of months, it’s going to be double, isn’t it, because it will be for two billing periods, but if they don’t pay, they don’t pay the next one and they don’t pay the fourth one it won’t be, correct me if I’m wrong, until the 5th one that they incur a penalty?”

Arnett: “That’s Correct.”

Jennings: “Of what? 60 Euros”

Arnett: “60 Euros on the two adult household charge, which is a 260 Euro annual bill, and 30 Euros on the one adult household charge…”

Jennings: “So if I fail to pay the first one, the second one, the third one, the fourth one, we’ll be after a general election at that stage, so you’re not going to cut off my water and you’re not going to come after me for any money?”

Arnett: “We will not be cutting off services but we will be seeking payment as any normal utility will do. If there’s four bills outstanding additional charges will apply we don’t want to be collecting additional charges from people we want to be collecting charges for the services that we are providing, notwithstanding that additional charges will apply and there are additional measures then available.”

Jennings: “So if I don’t pay this bill my second bill my third bill or my fourth bill you won’t do anything?”

Arnett: “Oh, we will be contacting customers seeking payment.”

Jennings: “But I’ll still get my water without having paid for it?”

Arnett: “You’ll still get your water.”

Jennings:“Will I still get my grant?”

Arnett: “The grant is a separate process it’s been very well publicised and I think you do know I’ve actually said this to you in the studio before, I think you do know that you do”

Jennings: “Oh.”


Arnett: “The conservation grant is available for registration it’s not linked to payment it’s linked to registration and its available to those people who have been paying for water services by providing their own well and septic tank and it’s available to Irish water customers. It’s not linked to payment it’s linked to registration.”

Jennings: “So just to be clear, if I don’t pay this bill, my second bill, my third bill and my fourth bill, I’ll continue to receive water, I pay any any penalties and I’ll still get 100 Euro from the government.”

Arnett: “Yes, that’s the position but 72% of customers have registered with Irish water one point one million of our customers have already registered with us, 46% of the Revenue is in and we start bill cycle 2 from here.”

Jennings: “If I don’t incur any penalty for not paying my first, second third or fourth bill and I get 100 Euros from the Government, why would I change my mind why would more than half of households who haven’t paid their water bill change their mind.”

Arnett:“Because our water services are failing today.”

Jennings: “But you’re fully funded into next year.”

Arnett: “In terms of leakage, in terms of capacity of water supply in terms of risk of water supply and in terms of waste water. So we have to do things differently. The domestic revenue stream gives us the opportunity to leverage additional funding from capital markets in order to improve the network, no one is disputing that today, no one is coming on Morning Ireland this morning saying we don’t need to address…”

Jennings:“You’re not short of money for this year”

Arnett: “As always the funding is still there and we have a revenue stream from non-domestic customers, let’s not forget that when non domestic charges were introduced level of compliance was lower than now we have that revenue stream we have the domestic charge revenue, we have subvention from government, debt from government.”

Jennings: “So you don’t need..”

Arnett: “We absolutely do need ,the provision is a working capital facility, in order to manage cash flow a new business starting up will always put that facility in place because there is always a lag phase between the time you send your first bill and the time you get paid, any new start-up company will understand that so you put in place a working capital facility it’s an interest bearing loan so we have to pay it back…”

Jennings: “Are you going to spend more money on advertising to convince the other half of households who haven’t paid yet?”

Arnett: “The first thing we will do in terms of billing is we will send out the second bill, we know from utility eperience that when second bills arrive people start paying.”

Jennings: “Are you going to spend more on advertising”

Arnett: “We will be communicating to people…”

Jennings: “How much have you spent on advertising so far?”

Arnett:“As part of the previous campaign we spent over 600,000 on advertising.”

Jennings: “How much more are you going to spend?”

Arnett: “I haven’t finalised the budget but we will be communicating…”

Jennings: “But you are going to spend more”

Arnett:“Yes, we will be communicating on all of the issues People have to understand this is a charge for a service and I think that’s an important message, we are providing water and waste water services and we need to invest and improve and provide good communication to everybody.”

Jennings: “Do you think the sanctions should be higher?”

Arnett: “No, I think actually if you take a sensible view, this this is a new charge for people and it’s on top of what has come at us in the previous years its’ not a popular charge, we accept that, and it is going to take time for this to bed down, people have to get used to managing this as part of their household budget and I think it’s reasonable that time frame for people do do that and I think what to say to people is to take control of that now, the most you’d owe us is 64.10, if you’re conserving, less than that, and what I would say is now is the time to engage with us…”

Jennings: “But if I don’t you’re not going to come on to me until the end of the 5th billing cycle?”

Arnett:“We add additional charges at the end of that but we are going to be reminding people to pay ,we do know from experience that does generate revenue.”

Jennings: “Elizabeth Arnett from Irish Water, thank you for speaking to us.”

Listen here (scroll down)

(RollingNews.ie)

bulloch

This morning.

Bulloch Harbour, Dalkey, Co Dublin

Conor writes:

Two of the camper-vans are permanently parked there because of parking restrictions or issues with their neighbours. One has been lived in for the past few weeks (not travellers) and the other was an overnight…Any suggestions that won’t affect parking for the rest of us…

Anyone?

watercharge

David Wall writes:

Found this in my parent’s house recently. Their water bill from 1983, when the Fine Gael – Labour government of the time introduced the tax via local authorities. It was defeated by non-payment.

Good times.

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Environment Minister Alan Kelly

Environment Minister Alan Kelly spoke to Sean O’Rourke on RTÉ Radio One this morning of his absolute satisfaction with the number of Irish Water bills that have been paid (fewer than half).

He was so pleased he lost his temper.

Sean O’Rourke: “Just coming back to Irish Water, you said they have targets, what are their targets then for the rest of this year. They’re at 46% mid-year, what are the targets for end-of-year?”

Alan Kelly: “Well they’re not at 46% mid-year, they’re at 46% after the first billing cycle of three months where some bills have only literally been arriving in people’s houses in June. So that’s where they’re at. I am absolutely very satisfied with this figure.”

O’Rourke: “No tell us more about the targets.”

Kelly: “Well, as regards the first set of bills, I’m very satisfied and looking at the volume of people who are engaging with Irish Water – over half a million, 540,000 customer engagements – with the volume of people who are signing up to direct debits, we’re quite satisfied that that figure is going to increase continuously.”

O’Rourke: “Yes but you still haven’t – at the third time of asking – told me what the targets are…”

Kelly: “But Sean, Sean, but Sean..”

Talk over each other

O’Rourke: “We were never told what the targets were.”

Kelly: “But Sean, they’re in line with what was expected for a first-time utility bill and this is the first time it was ever paid..”

Talk over each other

O’Rourke: “Well, if you’d told us three months ago that…”

Kelly: “I’ll give you, I’ll give you, you’re looking for…it’s impossible to say straight out, for me or for anyone else who is in charge of departments that have utilities underneath, exactly the volume of people who paid
. It’s impossible for Alex White to say how many people are going to pay their bills in relation to the TV license, as it is with me and Irish Water but when we do comparisons to similar types of bills, the household charge, the payments to Irish Water are ahead of where it was with the household charge. If we do a correlation with similar type utilities, similar water-type utilities across Europe, for instance in our neighbours in Britain, it is, on par, not ahead of what was in there as well.”

O’Rourke: “Yes but if you had told us three months ago that, in response to the first billing that’s sent out, if we get 46% or if we get close to 50% compliance, we’ll be very happy with that, then you could say, yeah we’re happy with that. But you never told us what the targets were. So I’d just like to know, so that people can decide in 3 or 6 months time, are the targets being met, what are the targets now for the rest of the year?”

Kelly: “Our, it would be impossible with the first-time bill to set out an exact target…”

O’Rourke: “So there are no targets, that’ really what you’re saying.”

Kelly: “No I’m not saying that, at all Sean, and please do no put words into my mouth. I don’t respect that.”

O’Rourke: “No, I’m extrapolating…”

Kelly: “No, no, no, I’ve been very clear with you.”

O’Rourke: “You haven’t actually, you’ve most certainly not…”

Kelly: “I actually have.”

O’Rourke: “You’ve refused flatly to tell me about the targets. No but sorry…”

Kelly: “Sean, when somebody’s interviewing you, you’ve got to at least allow me the courtesy…”

O’Rourke: “Yeah, and I’ve given you four or five chances to say what the targets are and you haven’t done so.”

Kelly: “Sean, we expect everyone to pay this bill, if they choose, if they feel they have a difficulty with paying their bill, there are many options in which they can be facilitated. Those are people who decide, they have difficulty paying. For those who are refusing to pay, or saying they can’t pay, there will be bills, there will be additional charges that will kick in after a year, as you are well aware. On top of that then there will be, there is compliances coming through legislation which I’ve spoken about to [Justice Minister] France Fitzgerald. In relation to the current figures, as has been outlined today, I am beyond satisfied with the volume of people who have paid their bills in a short period of time when I correlate it with the only thing I can correlate it with, as a minister, is similar type bills which is the household charge or in other jurisdictions where water bills are paid as well. They are the only comparisons I have Sean and I’m very satisfied with them, is that clear?”

O’Rourke: “Well it’s cleat that you’re satisfied. We’re not clear as to what the targets for the rest of the year but you’ve explained..”

Kelly: “Well the targets is very simple. I expect whether that people will pay their bills and if they have issues with paying their bills, obviously Irish Water are going to engage with them and I’ve facilitated that and where people are refusing to pay there is compliance mechanism to ensure that everyone will pay their bills. And they are the targets Sean.”

O’Rourke: “Just remind us what Frances Fitzgerald is going to be bringing forward.”

Kelly: “Well through the Dail at the moment, Frances Fitzgerald is bringing in debt management legislation so it’s basically legislation to deal with all, all debt. So where somebody is not paying their bills or has a small amount of debt, it can be managed through this process. It’s to ensure that also we don’t have a situation where people are going to jail for small amounts of debt. So there can be mechanisms to ensure that people pay their bills.”

Later

O’Rourke: “As they say in Sky News, this just in, minister. ‘Irish Water is a fiasco, that’s now an official fact. Kelly must go’ says Mattie McGrath, TD, your new constituency colleague in the one county constituency of Tipperary.”

Kelly: “Look, I stopped taking Mattie seriously a long time ago so I won’t be taking that comment seriously either. You know Mattie will do anything for attention and sure here’s another example of it.”

Later

O’Rourke: “And one last, last question, the name of the new political venture, I think it is going to be a party, Social Democrats, Stephen Donnelly, your former colleague Roisin Shorthall and Catherine Murphy – what do you make of that?”

Kelly: “I didn’t even know that to be honest with you. They’re name is Social Democrats?”

O’Rourke: “Dot ‘i’ ‘e’.”

Kelly: “That’s a surprise to be honest with you given the background of particularly one of them but that’s up to them. I wouldn’t discourage from going down any political venture. That’s their own business and best of luck to anyone who’s involved in politics. ”

Listen back here.

Previously: Trying To Bury Caesar

Mark Stedman/Rollingnews.ie

Broadsheet.ie