Saturday 10 August 2013

Government will face tougher battle on Water Charges

Workers’ Party councillor Ted Tynan has said that the political campaign against the property tax will continue but that the main focus now must necessarily move to defeating the Water Tax, a battle which, he said, is likely to include non-violent civil disobedience.
Councillor Tynan



Councillor Tynan said that while the mass non-payment campaign in relation to the Local Property Tax had been stymied by the involvement of Revenue, the political campaign would continue.  “The vast majority of people who have paid the Property Tax, whether directly or through the intervention of Revenue, have done so under duress.  Hundreds of thousands of people are seething with anger at this and the issue will not go away”, he said.

“The real battle ahead”, said Cllr. Tynan, “is against the Water Charges which, regardless of what the government says, is a prelude to privatisation and ever higher charges.  The collection of water charges presents the government with a whole minefield of hurdles which did not exist in relation to the Property Tax.  Behind each of those hurdles will be people resisting the water charges.  The first hurdle will be the installation of water meters and that battle is about to begin. It may have got off to a quiet start in Maynooth but I predict it will not stay quiet for long”.


“Water must never be turned into a commodity to be bought and sold for profit.  It is fundamental to human life and essential to human hygiene and public health. It is the last frontier and while the government may be smug about the Property Tax they will soon learn that the anger of the people has not gone away.  This battle isn’t over, it has merely entered into a new phase”, said Cllr. Tynan