Deal to signal end of water charges

darkpagandeath

Politics Cafe is down atm so.

Just posting this here.

Water charges look likely to be permanently axed as a Dáil vote will now be required for their reintroduction.

http://www.irishexaminer.com/ireland/deal-to-signal-end-of-water-charges-395465.html

Seems refunds down the line as well.

jimgoose

Sic semper tyrannis.

Alf Stewart.

Denis will make Enda stand in the bold corner now.

You had one job Enda..... ONE JOB!

_Kaiser_

IW was never going to work out well given the amount of resistance from the start, and screw-ups from both Government and IW itself around how it'd work (leaving aside the questionable senior appointments, data protection issues, billing screw-ups etc)

It was FG/LAB arrogance about the whole thing that cost them the election as well. Still, one of them is back on the opposition benches and the other will be soon enough so that's another plus!

jeamimus

So the Water Fairy will pay the costs of providing water and severage from now on, not the long suffering taxpayer....?

_Kaiser_

jeamimus wrote: »

So the Water Fairy will pay the costs of providing water and severage from now on, not the long suffering taxpayer....?

And so it begins....

Who do you think has been paying for water and sewerage all along, and long before the IW mess began?

darkpagandeath

jeamimus wrote: »

So the Water Fairy will pay the costs of providing water and severage from now on, not the long suffering taxpayer....?

Who does not pay tax ?

jimgoose

jeamimus wrote: »

So the Water Fairy will pay the costs of providing water and severage from now on, not the long suffering taxpayer....?

The long-suffering taxpayer will pay for it, just as he/she has always done. What we won't be paying for is double-jobbing, incompetence, buddy-buddy contracts and adding to Denis O'Brien's wig collection.

Infini

Water Charges were basically dead to rights well before they were introduced. Between the whole quango setup, the arrogant phil hogan who got rewarded for it, the whole history of opposition to the charges and the fears the water would go the same way as the bins did it was only a matter of time before they collapsed. Theres no problem having a single entity managing the water its actually a good idea there but it was always known this was to be another tax on people and it became the one thats just too far for people.

The Backwards Man

I love how people think this is a great victory. FF have royally fcuked the country yet again, and are seen as the heroes of the common man.


There's nothing as stupid as folk.

Alf Stewart.

jeamimus wrote: »

So the Water Fairy will pay the costs of providing water and severage from now on, not the long suffering taxpayer....?

The tax payer has always been paying it, why pay it again?

The story didn't go to plan I think.

That plan being, tax payer pay to fix and upgrade public water system > public water system sold to private corporation(s) > private corporations sell us our water using our paid for delivery systems.

jimgoose

The Backwards Man wrote: »

I love how people think this is a great victory. FF have royally fcuked the country yet again, and are seen as the heroes of the common man.


There's nothing as stupid as folk.

The IW fiasco was one too many for folk, many of whom live in drudgery and fear while illiterate, dysfunctional animals lord it over them. Stupid? I should cocoa, but not because of water-charges.

Baggy Trousers

The Backwards Man wrote: »

I love how people think this is a great victory. FF have royally fcuked the country yet again, and are seen as the heroes of the common man.


There's nothing as stupid as folk.

I disagree Backwards.

The fact that civil disobedience triumphed is a turning point in our history and our democracy.
The politicians were taught a hard lesson in accountability. The superquango that Hogan set up was an arrogant insult
to every Irish person. Our trust for politicians is probably at all all time low now (despite FG's promised "new politics") .
Perhaps now we have moved away from the "learned helplessness" and future politicians will think twice before
pulling another dodgy stunt like IW.

I think if the water protest movement had happened in the 80s, Haughey would have laughed in our faces and trotted out
the "living beyond our means" line while the Roman Church would have scolded us like little children for thinking for ourselves and rocking the boat.

jaykay74

so thats 200 quid a year saved. Meanwhile USC...

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

_Kaiser_ wrote: »

And so it begins....

Who do you think has been paying for water and sewerage all along, and long before the IW mess began?

That's just it. Nobody was paying enough to maintain or improve the system. The networks are in an abysmal condition and water quality is poor. There is huge capital investment needed but wait for the wailing when the cost of it adds to taxes or reduces spending elsewhere. And you were not paying for it all along or else those providing their own water and waste management should have been getting a tax rebate.

Captain Chaos

jaykay74 wrote: »

so thats 200 quid a year saved. Meanwhile USC...

Exactly, I've paid €450 this year so far in USC. I could do with that €450 in my pocket right now.

buried

We need a refurendum to make sure our water can never be privatised and sold for a tiny bag of unmagic beans like what happened to our gas resources. Dinny wasn't involved in this for the "conservation" craic

Alf Stewart.

Captain Chaos wrote: »

Exactly, I've paid €450 this year so far in USC. I could do with that €450 in my pocket right now.

USC is a bastard alright, I'm not disagreeing with you here.

My confusion lies with the folk who are screaming about a black hole in taxation finances to fund our water services, yet fully supported any notion of abolishing USC, a charge that rakes in +/- €4billion per annum. Where was that shortfall to be recouped from?

Also, the fact that homeowners were to shoulder 75% of the cost of water provisions for the country (that's domestic and commercial).

The captain of industry is no soft tyre.

darkpagandeath

Captain Chaos wrote: »

Exactly, I've paid €450 this year so far in USC. I could do with that €450 in my pocket right now.

No need to fear IW was never going to deliver. Apparently we need to invest huge amounts in water infrastructure according to the news again. So IW was not fixing anything apparently.

HensVassal

jeamimus wrote: »

So the Water Fairy will pay the costs of providing water and severage from now on, not the long suffering taxpayer....?

So a popular protest prevents you from getting scammed and you STILL want to believe that being scammed is a good thing and NOT beeing scammed is a bad thing?

Captain Chaos

If they abolish IW and say they will take the tax from current USC rates then I'd go with that.

darkpagandeath

Captain Chaos wrote: »

If they abolish IW and say they will take the tax from current USC rates then I'd go with that.

it's only 300m. That's all water charges were getting from domestic customers Max.

HensVassal

Does this mean we can vandalise water meters with impunity now?

Tomagotchye

If we were paying for it the whole time you wouldn't know it. Lived in 3 cities and water quaility is a disgrace. Just knocking back chlorine at this point.

I assume our new plan is to pretend everything was fine. Great idea. This whole thing is a joke. Anytime the government bring in a new tax we might as well not bother paying it. They have lost their ability to make decisions with this.

Wouldn't want to work Irish water customer support today poor bastards

Captain Chaos

darkpagandeath wrote: »

it's only 300m. That's all water charges were getting from domestic customers Max.

That's the problem, that take was not even covering the wages of the staff in IW or the daya to day running of it. IW as is is not fit for purpose and is a job for da' lads.

It's costing the sate money by just having it exist. It's set up to be sold off to a private entity and the price of water to then go through the roof.

Mr. CooL ICE

darkpagandeath wrote: »

Politics Cafe is down atm so.

Just posting this here.

Mod:The Politics Cafe being closed does not mean that you should start Politics Cafe threads in After Hours.

Until the Politics Cafe mods have done what they need to do and the forum is re-opened, any threads for there can wait.