Govt publishes: The Water Services Bill

national | bin tax / household tax / water tax | news report

Friday January 11, 2013 22:56

by T

Sweeping powers to impose water charges

The government has published The Water Services Bill 2013 that gives it power to impose a Water Tax from Jan 1st 2014. The Bill has yet to go through the Dail for possible minor amendments. The Bill will handle our public water resources and infrastructure over to a private company that will be able to extract what essentially amounts to a form of rent for providing a basic need like water. The tax will cost at least €500+ a year although naturally the government has played down this figure.

Initially the government will take the tax as revenue for themselves but eventually this gift will be handed over to private companies.

Other giveaways in the Bill for the private companies getting the lucrative contracts to install meters at the expense of the public are the right to install meters and pipes without having to seek planing permission or permission from roads authorities to do so.

It will also impose fines of €5,000 on people who already have the debt burden of the banks, developers and bond holders on their back who refuse to allow meters to be installed on their property.

What we are likely to see is a mad dash by profiteers to do this job as quickly as possible so that they make as much money as possible and we can envisage there will be a total mess of dug up pavements, water supply interruptions for days, shoddy work and undue regard for anyone has they attempt to install these meters.

And then we move into the second phase where the State will use the full force of the propaganda arsenal at its disposal with full backing from the press largely owned by billionaires who will demonize anyone who opposes this resource grab.

A copy of the Water Services Act can be found at this link:
http://www.environ.ie/en/Legislation/Environment/Water/...n.pdf

At the moment, it is not clear whether that is the version published today.

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Comments (2 of 2)

Greeks stand up to protect their water from privatization

Sat Jan 12, 2013 19:48

Hopefully we will too.

This article might be of interest to those who are interested in this issue....

“You can tell if a society is democratic if its water is available to everyone, if it’s clean, and in public hands.” That’s how Kostas Marioglou sees it. When he’s not distributing water meters and pipes from a warehouse as with his job at EYATH ( Thessaloniki’s State Water Utility) he is a union leader and organizer for Initiative 136, a citizen’s initiative to buy the water utility from the Greek government.

Greece is under enormous pressure to privatize its water system. As the country drowns in debt, the European Commission, the International Monetary Fund and the European Central Bank (often referred to as the “troika”) work with eager Greek political parties to balance the books by selling off public water. Greece wouldn’t be the first place to privatize public water utilities during a fiscal crisis. Conditioning loans based on full or partial water privatization is an increasingly common practice of international lenders – and much criticized. ....

Reminder: National Forum on Sat 12th Jan of Campaign Against Household and Water Taxes

Fri Jan 11, 2013 23:09

Since this is very much related to the above topic it is worth reminding people that the National Forum for CAHWT is tomorrow Saturday 12th at 12:30 pm where they are holding a National Rally at the Red Cow Inn which is off the old Naas Road just before the Red Cow M50 interchange.

The blurb from CAHWT is:

The boycott of the household tax is a solid platform for the launch of our battle against the property tax in 2013. The Campaign is beginning its fight against the property tax in 2013 with a national public rally in the Red Cow Inn on Saturday 12th January at 12:30pm. We encourage everybody opposed to the property tax and willing to support a boycott campaign to come along.

National meeting in Red Cow, Saturday 12.30

Campaigners will gather this weekend to discuss how to defeat the “odious” Property Tax.

Members of the Campaign Against Household & Water Taxes (CAHWT ) are holding a national meeting this Saturday in the Red Cow Hotel for analysis and discussion of what they call “this regressive austerity tax which will tip thousands of families into poverty.”

According to CAHWT spokesperson, Ruth Coppinger: “This tax will generate loathing across the country. Taxing people’s homes at a time when incomes are being slashed and negative equity is widespread will lead to massive bitterness and opposition. There is absolutely no ability to pay factored in.”

“Threatening to forcibly deduct this tax from workers, the unemployed and pensioners contrasts with the accepted tax avoidance of corporate giants like Starbucks, who paid only €35,000 in tax in Ireland since 2005′, said Cllr Coppinger.

“Our campaign will discuss strategies to build a movement against this theft in communities and workplaces nationwide. The meeting begins at 12.30 and is open to anyone who wishes to get involved.”

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Govt publishes: The Water Services Bill

Comments (2 of 2)