This afternoon
Public representatives including TDs Paul Murphy and Ruth Coppinger and activists outside Leinster House, Kildare Street, Dublin to count down the non payment networks Bin your Bill Campaign, ahead of this Saturdays Water charges protest in Dublin.
(Leah Farrell/Photocall Ireland)
Fingal county council offices pic.twitter.com/xX4HwS7YPN
— Balbriggan (@BASAAWC) April 13, 2015
Scenes from the Irish Water protest at Fingal County Council this evening.
Top pic: Ciaran Bolger
Bottom pic: Dublin Says No
This morning/afternoon
Anti-irish Water gathering outside Irish Water HQ Colville House, Talbot Street, Dublin. Protestors including TDs Ruth Coppinger and Paul Murphy alongside Conor Mac Liam, husband of Susie Long.
Leah writes:
The We Won’t Pay Campaign launched a ‘counter-offensive’ against Irish Water bills. They are calling for nationwide street meetings in every area to build networks in each community to organise non-payment, and will be making a call for campaign groups, community groups and activists to deliver a national boycott leaflet into every estate, town and village across the country….”
From top: Councillor Michael O’Brien; (l-r) Ruth Coppinger TD with Conor Mac Liam, Councillor Michael O’Brien and Anti-Austerity Alliance TD Paul Murphy ; Aoife and Ciara Hendrick from Walkinstown Says No
(Leah Farrell/Photocall Ireland)
Oh.
The results of an Irish Mirror online poll this afternoon.
First water charge bills to hit homes from tomorrow as protesters continue to resist (IrishMirror)
Meanwhile…
Irish Water has confirmed that it has asked around 11,000 customers who submitted payment details in writing or over the phone to re-submit the information.
The company said that 9,000 customers who gave details of direct debit mandates over the phone were asked to re-submit them in writing, following concerns over data protection.
11,000 Irish Water customers asked to re-submit payment details (RTÉ)
Inside the Abtran offices in Mahon, Cork, this morning where Irish Water’s call centre workers are based.
People who have registered with Irish Water will start to receive bills from tomorrow.
Meanwhile, outside Abtran…
Irish Water customers set to get first quarterly bills (Irish Times)
Previously: Dirty Protest
Pics via Paul Byrne
Former Fine Gael Minister and Newstalk Breakfast presenter Ivan Yates
Irish Water.
How hairy?
Ivan Yates writing in today’s Irish Independent:
Irish Water is a monstrous Tower of Babel. Thirty four local councils are better placed to administer/collect revenue for Irish Water. They have in-house data from registers of electors, itemising and validating adult members of every house.
They can pinpoint, through the planning system, additional new houses and multi-residential buildings. They had systems of water rate collection for all commercial outlets and records of local authority houses.
….[Enda] Kenny and [Alan] Kelly [Environment Minister] have vested all their credibility in a top-heavy, platinum-plated quango, happily wasting another €650,000 on advertising campaigns that won’t change anyone’s mind about Irish Water.
The political exit to extricate ministers could be Eurostat. They know the Government’s revised charges plan won’t raise 51pc revenue relative to the projected expenditure model. Exchequer finance underlies Irish Water’s economics and balance sheet; without it they’re already insolvent. The NTMA accesses cheaper cash anyway.
The EU can do the Government a favour; get them off a flight plan towards an electoral crash. Irish Water can’t deliver acceptable, accurate, conservation-based billing and metering systems – maybe ever – but certainly not before polling day.
Ergo: Kenny and Co are impaled on a lethal hook that happens to be the single issue they could lose power on. Time to think again.
Blummin crusty, dog-on-a-string, Marxist nutjob.
Realpolitik means it’s back to drawing board on water (Ivan Yates, Independent.ie)
(Photocall Ireland/Photocall Ireland)
Conor Farrell tweetz:
Balbriggan Against Water Charges protesting outside Irish Water HQ now.
Update:
Outside Irish Water HQ, Talbot Street corner of Foley Street and Buckingham Street, Dublin.
From top: (l-r) Ciara Hendrick, Aoife Hendrick from Walkinstown and Brendan Young from Cellbridge part of a Non-payment Network planning a National Bin Your Bills protest on April 18; Anti-Austerity TD Paul Murphy and Sandra Fay from Tallaght.
(Leah Farrell/Photocall Ireland)
Water meter installation.
Maxwell Road, Rathmines, Dublin 6
Water Boy writes:
Water meters going in, all trucks branded “PACE MRPH Civils Engineering” (sic) with a mobile number* as a contact (seems legit). They also all feature an eagle and a cheery shamrock.
Have tried googling PACE MRPH Irish Water but there are no results. They have a bunch of GMC Sierra equipment which has had “MRPH” crudely spray painted onto it.
Google shows a US/Chinese company called PACE Water Engineering – PACE: Advanced Water Engineering – nothing on their site about Irish Water.Searching for MRPH brings up this company – – who have huge water contracts in the UK, but nothing on their website about having a contract with Irish Water. Also, nothing I can see from Govt or news sources about this. So, did GMC Sierra sell on the contract? Did the Govt award it to someone else?
Anyone?
*no answer or voicemail
This just spin.
RTÉ Radio One’s Morning Ireland Opened this morning’s show with breaking developments concerning the controversial water meters.
Finally.
Some coverage about that very strange Siteserv deal on RTÉ?
Not so fast.
Head of Irish Water asset management Jerry Grant, told presenter Cathal MacCoille how they detected 30,000 suspected leaks in the last quarter of 2014, based on “a sweep” of 413,000 meter readings.
Oh.
He explained there are “leak alarm indicators” on the meters, and he said Irish Water expects to find 60,000 to 70,000 leaks “when” all the meters are installed.
Jerry Grant: “We have a leak alarm indicator on the meters. The meter is electronic and it store a lot of data, not just a meter reading. And one of the things it picks up is a continuous nightflow. And if the continuous nightflow drops, doesn’t drop below a threshold figure, that’s very indicative of a leak, because clearly, during the night, you’d expect the meter to drop.”
Cathail MacCoille: “OK, you’re launching this scheme, what’s the deal?”
Grant: “The deal at the moment is that the Regulator has agreed that we should go ahead with an interim arrangement for €3.4million and begin to tackle these leaks. We have a proposal with the Regulator now to spend up to €51million which we think would cater for at least 25,000…”
MacCoille: “And you’ll spend that money over what period?”
Grant: “2015, 2016, it may run into 2017, depending on the speed with which people will come back to us. Because obviously this scheme is about entering people’s property, it’s about providing a service on your own property. And to do that we have to have an engagement and agreement from the householders.”
MacCoille: “And €51million, it’s provided for this year and next year, would enable you to fix how many leaks? How many properties do you think?”
Grant: “We think about 25,000 leaks. I think what’s interesting is that if we end up with about 60,000 leaks, in total, it’s quite clear from the pilot work that we’ve done, that at least 60% of those are within the building. Now we’re not addressing free-of-charge leaks within the building.”
MacCoille: “That’s up to the customer.”
Grant: “That’s up to the customer. We will help people locate you know the types of leak and give them advise on how…”
MacCoille: “So what will you do and pay for?”
Grant: “Where a leak occurs between the building, between the external wall of the building and our stop cock, we will address those leaks, so generally under driveways, in front gardens and so on.”
MacCoille: “Now, obviously, you’ll be fixing leaks forever but, in terms of the leaks that you’ve, that this 30,000-plus, how long will it take you to get, how many do you reckon, on that basis that you have, when you’ve looked at everybody…”
Grant: “These 30,000 leaks have shown up about 46million litres of water per day. We produce that amount of water to supply Limerick city and the environs of Limerick – that’s an amazing amount of water. So if we can fix 40 to 50% of those leaks, we should recover, given that the bigger leaks are probably external to the property, we should recover 20- 25million litres per day, from that source. This is a very quick win for us.”
MacCoille: “How long will it take you to do that? Enough to supply Limerick?”
Grant: “Yes that’s right.”
MacCoille: “So how long will it take to do that?”
Grant: “Between 2015 and 2016, subject to the approval of the Regulator, which I’ve no doubt will come.”
MacCoille: “That’s very quick.”
Grant: “Yeah absolutely, this is the easiest and quickest…”
MacCoille: “Makes you wonder why it didn’t happen before now?”
Grant: “Well I suppose there were a number of reasons, first of all, the meter tells you that the leak is there, we didn’t have the meters, this is the benefit of meters. Meters help the customer and they help Irish Water. And quite frankly there’s been a lot of talk about the meters but this is the first real dividend from the meters because they’re identifying leakage that can be easily recovered because we can identify precisely where it is.”
Listen back here
Older readers may recall Jerry was the managing director at RPS Consulting Engineers from 2002 until 2012. RPS advised Dublin City Council on the Poolbeg incinerator project while John Tierney was Dublin City Manager. Mr Tierney is currently the managing director of Irish Water while the former head of project communications at RPS, Elizabeth Arnett, is now head of communications and corporate services at Irish Water.
Good times.
Irish Water suspects enough water to fill 18 Olympic pools lost daily (RTÉ)
Meanwhile:
“Over 12,500 meters were installed across the city by the end of last month, with the council called in to repair nearly 250 leaks…contractors working for Irish Water have damaged pipes outside one in every 50 homes.”
Water meter installation damages 1 in 50 pipes (breakingNews)
The money collected will only cover collection?
Of the money?
Yargh.
Independent TD Stephen Donnelly explains:
Last night the Dáil debated Irish Water…there was a lot of understandable emotion on all sides of the House, but I thought it would be useful to bring the stark facts back to the table:
1. The money paid by Irish households will not be used to pay for water…it will be used to pay for the cost of taking the money.
2. Even if the money could be raised for free, the answer is to reduce the operating costs of Irish Water, as is done abroad, and use those savings to upgrade the water infrastructure;
3. Irish Water has been set up in a cloud of incompetence and secrecy – and so I’ve written to the Chair of the Environment Committee requesting a full investigation.
Public services must be high quality, efficient, universally accessible, and paid for progressively…Irish Water is the latest example of an out-of-date political system stuck in the past, and incapable of delivering for the people.
Thanks Barry
