Tag Archives: Irish Water

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Health Minister Leo Varadkar

Health Minister Leo Varadkar spoke to Keelin Shanley on RTÉ’s Today with Seán O’Rourke this morning following the announcement that An Bord Pleanála has granted planning permission for the new children’s hospital on a campus shared with St James’s Hospital in Dublin.

During their discussion, they talked about Irish Water and Mr Varadkar was asked if he’d like Taoiseach and Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny’s job.

Grab a tay…

Leo Varadkar: “The fact that they [Fianna Fáil] went to the wire and threatened an election and not to facilitate a Government on water, I just think is ridiculous..”

Keelin Shanley: “So you think Fianna Fáil’s negotiating point of view is ridiculous – is that what you’re saying?”

Varadkar: “I just, I just think that of all the issues to pick, you know, of all the issues to drive us to the brink of a general election, to threaten not to support a minority government, of all the issues they could have picked like I really  thought maybe they would say, you know, that we insist that Ireland must develop a national health service over the next five years, you must find the 3 or 4 million to do it, you know, you need to drop your promises on the USC – not at all. You know it was all down to water charges that cost €3 a week and the worst thing is, you know, and you know water charges are being suspended – they’re not being abolished – but it’s the wrong thing to do. It’s not in the public interest to do this. And yet this is the issue…”

Shanley: “So why are you doing it? Were you not able to stand up to them on it?”

Varadkar: “Well we haven’t, what we did stand up to, we said we wouldn’t give up on the principle of a national utility, we don’t think Irish Water should be broke back and everything sent back to 30-something local authorities, I don’t think even deep down Fianna Faáil believes that that’s a good idea even though that was their policy. And on water charges what we’ve agreed is a suspension for nine months and during that period we will continue to make the case in favour of water charges. And I’m in favour of water charges. I was in favour of them in 2011 and I was in favour of them in this general election and I always told me that this is the right thing they should do and they should pay those and I keep saying that. There’s two reasons: one because it’s the only way people will conserve water, it should be metered and it should be charged for it. And secondly, we actually need a dedicated stream of income to upgrade our water and sewerage services, to get rid of boil notices, to get rid of the situation where we’re still putting sewage into our rivers and our seas. And it’s a real disappointment to me that that Fianna Fáil wants us to go back on water and like it was actually Fianna Fáil in 2010 that started this, before the Troika arrived, they can’t even blame the Troika.”

Later

Varadkar: “Maybe we will have to fight an election sooner rather than later, I’d actually rather we fight an election on those things [economy, housing] then on the issue of water. I just think that would have been a nonsense. I actually think that the people would have been very annoyed about it and would have been, ‘a plague on all your houses’.”

Shanley: “So you think everyone would have done badly out of an election on water. What was your thinking for Fine Gael going to the electorate on the basis of water. You know your option there was either an election or give way on water.”

Varadkar: “Yeah I just, I just think it would have been insane to have an election on Irish Water.”

Shanley: “Would you have lost further seats do you believe?”

Varadkar: “Possibly I don’t know, possibly not, it’s impossible to judge that but like I say, we have an opportunity now to form a minority government it’s not going to be easy, it’s going to be difficult and it’s going to be different but, you know, Government’s really tough but it can also give you the opportunity to do wonderful things and things like the Children’s Hospital are exactly why you do all the bad days because there are great days too and you can only do that when you’re in Government.”

Later

Shanley: “Will he [Enda Kenny] lead the party into the next election?”

Varadkar: “Well, he’s already said that he won’t.”

Shanley: “Are you interested in the job?”

Varadkar: “Ask me when the vacancy arises. I’m down on so many other things but, like I say, that’s not for today.”

Shanley: “Ok, Minister Leo Varadkar thank you very much indeed for coming out to us this morning.”

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This afternoon.

Labour TD Alan Kelly.

Any excuse.

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Fine Gael Minister for Jobs Richard Bruton

RTÉ reports:

Speaking on RTÉ’s Morning Ireland, Mr Bruton said in the event that charges continue in the future then those who were in default will have their bill pursued.

If water charges are to be scrapped in the future, then people who have already paid their bills will have to get their money back, he said.

It is proposed that Irish Water will be retained while the funding model for water will be examined by an independent commission and then an Oireachtas committee before a Dáil vote takes place on its recommendations.

Proposal to suspend water charges for at least nine months (RTE)

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Social Democrats TD Stephen Donnelly

Social Democrats TD Stephen Donnelly spoke to Rachael English on RTÉ One’s Morning Ireland this morning about the matter of Irish Water amid the Government formation talks.

Mr Donnelly said the future of Irish Water should not be solely discussed by Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil negotiators behind closed doors but that it should be discussed among all elected TDs in the Dáil.

At the end of the interview, Mr Donnelly explained that he hasn’t paid his water charges, saying:

“Anyone who’s paying out €160 is essentially being asked to go out into their front garden and set fire to the money”.

Grab a tay.

Rachael English: “It’s 60 days without a Government and the talks are stuck over water charges. The Social Democrats have said that the water issue must be discussed in the Dáil and not confined to a closed room among Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil negotiators. One of its three TDs, Stephen Donnelly, joins us now, good morning.”

Stephen Donnelly: “Good morning.”

English: “You would have had a say had you remained in the process of talking to find a Government.”

Donnelly: “Well we do have a say, we’re a political party elected to the Dáil and that’s where this should be debated. The Greens entered talks in good faith and had to leave, a lot of Independents entered talks in good faith and had to leave, the Social Democrats met both Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil at the start, we had very constructive talks with both parties. And then we said the numbers are such that you two need to go and come to some sort of agreement and that we would then engage. And we were right: those who did engage before that spent a lot of time in there in good faith and they had to leave. We have now reached out to Fianna Fáil, to Fine Gael, to Sinn Féin, to the Greens, in the last week, because the talks are back on and therefore we are very much in the process – we’re not going to go and prop up a Fine Gael minority government, we said during the campaign we wouldn’t do that…”

English: “But you’ve left Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael to it, in terms of making the arrangements for whatever Government needs to be formulated so they have to do an agreement on Irish Water.”

Donnelly: “No they don’t, the Dáil has to have an agreement on Irish Water so, people are really fed up. We’re on day 60…”

English: “But the Dáil did agree on Irish Water, I mean the thing was discussed, it was debated, it was voted on, it was established…”

Donnelly: “It was and then it was a general election and then the majority of TDS elected ran partly on the basis of changing that decision. Let’s not forget: Irish Water was only one of, I think, only two times in the last Dáil term of five years where the Opposition walked out. If you remember Phil Hogan, the minister, then rammed it through, the whole thing through in three hours. And it has been a disaster right from its beginning and continues to be a disaster. And we now have, what it really is, a totally unacceptable situation where we have Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael locked away in a room, potentially about to collapse the 32nd Dáil on the issue of water. What the Social Democrats are saying is, ‘Look, water was one of the key issues of the election. Obviously there are arguably more pressing issues, like homelessness, like people having to wait 25 times longer on public waiting lists than private waiting lists…'”

English: “Murder on the streets…”

Donnelly: “Like murder, right, like the guards are being 20% under resourced and so forth. There are very, very serious issues. We have one in eight children in the country now in daily poverty. The Dáil needs to get about doing its business.”

English: “So is it ridiculous that the 32nd Dáil is being threatened with collapse over an issue which, you can break it down, to €3 a week per household?”

Donnelly: “Well we think it’s outrageous that it is potentially going to be collapsed and so what we are saying to Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael is: there is clearly an impasse. Both parties ran on quite different positions. We actually don’t believe that either position is a tenable position, either Fianna Fáil or Fine Gael’s position but that’s fine. That’s up to them to decide. We’re saying look: clearly this has reached an impasse. The rest of us want to get on with the job we’ve been elected and paid to do – as I’m sure more Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael TDs. Take the issue of Irish Water out of the talks, bring it back to where it belongs – which is in the Dáil – like let’s not forget, about 90 TDs were elected with a very clear mandate: To end domestic water charges. There are about 90 TDs who would vote accordingly. So let’s not collapse the 32nd Dáil on the issue of water, let’s bring it back..”

English: “So how do you change it? Would you change the system of having a national utility called Irish Water, managing the Irish Water project, and having water charges? What would you change?”

Donnelly: “Yes, there’s three things we would do. First of all, we would call for a referendum on public ownership, probably to change Article 10 of the constitution. There is a very real fear of privatisation – probably not in the next few years but in the future. So we would look for a referendum to make sure that could never happen. We would reconstitute Irish Water, you could say end Irish Water, abolish Irish Water but not do what Fianna Fáil is looking to do which, quite frankly, is bonkers – which is send it back to the local authorities – but have a national water board. Because whilst the Government made and unholy mess of Irish Water in the last Dáil, actually the engineers are doing a very good job like they are doing the business that needs to be done on the water system which is great. And the third thing we would do is we would end domestic charges and, partly, and it’s a message people really need to understand, partly because the money that is being raised from domestic charges does nothing other than cover the cost of raising the money. So none of the money that anyone is paying out or not paying out is being used to maintain the system or upgrade the system…”

English: “So all the money to fund water and the repairing of the system should come from the Exchequer, is that what you’re saying?”

Donnelly: “Should continue to come from the Exchequer. Let’s not forget, it costs twice as much in Ireland to provide water as it does in the UK, including northern Ireland where the population density is more or less the same. So what should be done is the engineers should be allowed get on with the job of identifying the leaks, of upgrading the system, that creates very, very significant cost savings. You reinvest those cost savings into upgrading the system. So both from an engineering perspective, from an economic perspective and from a political and democratic perspective, there is a very clear argument that says: end domestic charges, use the savings which are being generated to reinvest and upgrading the system which obviously has to be done…”

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Sasko Lazarov/Rollingnews

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Further to reports this morning that Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil discussed changes to Irish Water – including it becoming a State agency – last night…

Paul Melia, of the Irish Independent, Brian Dowling, of RTÉ’s political staff, and Anti-Austerity Alliance TD Paul Murphy spoke to Keelin Shanley on Today with Seán O’Rourke.

Mr Murphy raised questions about Irish Water and their non-release of payment figures for the first quarter of this year.

Paul Murphy: “We haven’t an explanation for why Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael have colluded in the Dáil since the election to avoid any discussion of water charges on the floor of the Dáil. We’re now in the fifth sitting and we still haven’t discussed them. We’re also owed an explanation for why Irish Water, which has been acting in a very overtly political manner with its legal opinion paid for by the taxpayer and now not releasing the payment figures – that are due at this stage – for the bills that went out for the first quarter of this year that, in my opinion, based on very strong anecdotal evidence, will show a significant increase from the levels from 50% non-payment that we saw in the last quarter of last year.”

Keelin Shanley: “In fairness, we’ve been in touch with Irish Water. They say an update on the first year of billing will be made available once all payment information is collated. They’re certainly not saying they’re delaying it…”

Murphy: “I’m sure they’re not saying they’re delaying it but I believe that they are suppressing it. All the bills would have been due for payment by the end of last month. It was on the 14th of January that the last payment figures were released. We’re now on the 20th of April.”

Shanley: “So you’re basically saying…”

Murphy: “That’s not accidental..”

Shanley: “…you think that people have stopped paying their water bills since this new uncertainty around Irish Water has emerged?”

Murphy: “I do, I obviously don’t have the figures and I think even when Irish Water release the figures, they’ll release it in a such a way to create the impression that still loads of people are paying. But 50% didn’t pay the bill for last quarter of last year and I think it’s likely to be higher.”

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uYIpuf7_pZg&feature=youtu.be

The Un-Republic.

By Mike Casey, who writes:

We’re told that the events of Easter 1916 led to the formation of the Irish Republic. A Republic is defined as Rule By Law, but in Ireland – as we all know – protection under law, and access to justice, is not automatic and is instead dependent on status, power, influence, connection and wealth. This is the opposite of a Republic; it’s an Un-Republic….

Fight!

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From top: Fine Gael MEP Mairéad McGuinness and Brendan Ogle

Fine Gael MEP Mairéad McGuinness and Brendan Ogle, of trade union Unite and campaign group Right2Water, spoke to RTÉ’s Seán O’Rourke this morning about Irish Water.

The discussion followed reports that legal advice – commissioned by Irish Water’s parent company Ervia – apparently shows water charges can’t be abolished.

At the beginning of the interview on Today with Seaán O’Rourke, Mr Ogle accused Irish Water of selectively leaking the legal advice to a national newspaper (Irish Times), before calling on Irish Water to publish the reported legal advice on its website today.

From the interview…

Mairead McGuinness: “The privatisation issue which Brendan raises is for ideological and political reasons and I said earlier, we have politicised this issue far too much. There are over 60% of people paying their charges, it is controversial, I understand that but remember that those who obeyed the law will continue to obey the law and should be respected for it.
And, certainly from a Fine Gael perspective, our position on the water, Irish Water, and charging for water, is clear: I acknowledge that the handling of it may not have been the best of practices but we now have a structure in place which knows what’s happening above ground and below ground. And believe me, it is not pretty. We know where the investment needs to be made and we know where we need to protect our water sources and I think, if that were to be interrupted and interfered with we are going back decades and I think that would be reprehensible.”

Brendan Ogle: “Well the water notices were dealt with in Roscommon through paying progressive general taxation. There is no doubt that water notices are a disgrace, we need more investment, we need to fix the system and the way to fix the system is not to be spending €2.6billion over the next number of years on meters, it’s to put that money into fixing the leaks, protect the water in the constitution and me and Mairéad will agree on all of that. Stop wasting money on meters, stop wasting money on legal advisors, stop wasting money on public relations, put the money into fixing the leaks and protect water in public ownership.”

Listen back in full here

Previously: The Privatisation Of irish Water Is Ultimately Envisioned

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Today’s Irish Times

Reggiecide writes:

‘Up to seven billion’…

Let’s take that with the pinch of salt we need for every utterance that comes out of that failed utlitity but why is the Irish Times continuing to allow such obvious spin to dominate its front page. After peddling fear (which few bought) throughout the General Election campaign you have to hand it to them for their stamina if nothing else..

In fairness.

Irish Water abolition ‘would cost State up to €7bn’ (Irish Times)

vkaru
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ArxAu20TTdc

A story before bed-time.

From Russia-born (usually underwater) filmmaker Victor Karu, who writes:

A Pre-Election Bedtime Story is a moral tale to warn all Irish people to beware people bearing promises at the door this week. It is accompanied with footage of amazing people braving the wet weather, on Sat 20th Feb 2016, to march thru Dublin from all over the country to show their anger at the present government and established politics for the mess they have made of the country over the past decade. Music is ‘Sheep may safely graze’ and ‘Danse Macabre – no violin’ by Kevin MacLeod…

FIGHT!