Tens of thousands took to the streets of Dublin on Saturday in the latest mass protest against new water charges which have sparked widespread public anger.
The first bills for water from the new Irish Water utility are due next month, after the Irish government introduced the charges as a condition of its international financial bailout.
Saturday’s demonstration was the latest protest after similar rallies late last year that forced Irish Prime Minister Enda Kenny’s coalition government into an embarrassing climbdown, slashing the charges.
Photo: AFP
Irish police officers would not provide an estimate on attendees, but organizers put the crowd at about 80,000.
Irish state broadcaster RTE cited observers as saying that from 30,000 to 40,000 people attended.
Dublin capped water charges at 160 euros (US$173) for single households and 260 euros for others, and abandoned plans for pay-as-you-use meters.
However, the Right2Water campaign, an umbrella organization of dozens of local opposition groups that organized Saturday’s protest, said the issue was not going away.
“We have one objective and that is to seek a repudiation of the domestic water charges legislation,” organizer Brendan Ogle said.
“We are going to ensure this is the major political issue in the next general election,” he told reporters.
The Irish government has insisted that the pricing changes they introduced last year provided “certainty, clarity and affordability” for charges.
Irish Water says about two-thirds of those who are liable to pay the new charges have now registered with the utility, which represents 990,000 customers out of an estimated customer base of 1.5 million.
Under the old system, water was paid for through general taxation and services were operated by local authorities.
Many of the crowd carried the flag of anti-austerity opposition Irish republican party Sinn Fein.
The crowd jeered and yelled “traitors,” while chanting: “Enda Kenny, not a penny” and “No way, we won’t pay.”
Roy Murphy from Clondalkin in Dublin was carrying a poster that read: “We reject water charges.”
“This is going to kill the government at the next general election. How exactly do they think they have made it affordable?” he told reporters.
Another protester, who identified herself as Deirdre from Dublin, said the issue had become bigger than just water taxes.
“We are already paying water taxes through general taxation. But it is not just this; it is the pension cuts, the property tax,” she said. “I am lucky enough to still be working, but there has not been any salary increases in six years, but yet there have been lots of new taxes.”
Addressing the crowds, Socialist Party legislator Ruth Coppinger called for a mass campaign of nonpayment when the first bills arrive.
“In 10 days’ time, every family in this country will receive a bill. To pay or not to pay, that will be the question,” she said. “The only way we can secure the abolition of water charges is by building mass nonpayment.”
Ireland must hold a general election by April next year, and the government parties of Fine Gael and Labour are hoping economic recovery will boost their popularity.
Last week, official government data showed that Ireland was Europe’s fastest growing economy last year, and the European Commission forecasts a similar achievement this year. Recent opinion polls show a resurgence in support for both government parties.
However, United Left Alliance legislator Joan Collins, who participated in Saturday’s protest, insisted that people were seeking an alternative.
“They are absolutely disgusted with this government which is carrying on the austerity measures,” she told reporters. “The polls go up and down, but the main date will be the election and that will be the decider.”
Republican US lawmakers on Friday criticized US President Joe Biden’s administration after sanctioned Chinese telecoms equipment giant Huawei unveiled a laptop this week powered by an Intel artificial intelligence (AI) chip. The US placed Huawei on a trade restriction list in 2019 for contravening Iran sanctions, part of a broader effort to hobble Beijing’s technological advances. Placement on the list means the company’s suppliers have to seek a special, difficult-to-obtain license before shipping to it. One such license, issued by then-US president Donald Trump’s administration, has allowed Intel to ship central processors to Huawei for use in laptops since 2020. China hardliners
A top Vietnamese property tycoon was on Thursday sentenced to death in one of the biggest corruption cases in history, with an estimated US$27 billion in damages. A panel of three hand-picked jurors and two judges rejected all defense arguments by Truong My Lan, chair of major developer Van Thinh Phat, who was found guilty of swindling cash from Saigon Commercial Bank (SCB) over a decade. “The defendant’s actions ... eroded people’s trust in the leadership of the [Communist] Party and state,” read the verdict at the trial in Ho Chi Minh City. After the five-week trial, 85 others were also sentenced on
‘DELUSIONAL’: Targeting the families of Hamas’ leaders would not push the group to change its position or to give up its demands for Palestinians, Ismail Haniyeh said Israeli aircraft on Wednesday killed three sons of Hamas’ top political leader in the Gaza Strip, striking high-stakes targets at a time when Israel is holding delicate ceasefire negotiations with the militant group. Hamas said four of the leader’s grandchildren were also killed. Ismail Haniyeh’s sons are among the highest-profile figures to be killed in the war so far. Israel said they were Hamas operatives, and Haniyeh accused Israel of acting in “the spirit of revenge and murder.” The deaths threatened to strain the internationally mediated ceasefire talks, which appeared to gain steam in recent days even as the sides remain far
Conjoined twins Lori and George Schappell, who pursued separate careers, interests and relationships during lives that defied medical expectations, died this month in Pennsylvania, funeral home officials said. They were 62. The twins, listed by Guinness World Records as the oldest living conjoined twins, died on April 7 at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, obituaries posted by Leibensperger Funeral Homes of Hamburg said. The cause of death was not detailed. “When we were born, the doctors didn’t think we’d make 30, but we proved them wrong,” Lori said in an interview when they turned 50, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported. The