Water protest march could be ‘sucker punch’ for Government

The Right 2 Water campaign has predicted tens of thousands of people will take to the streets of Dublin on December 10th to protest against water charges.

The group held a press conference to highlight its opposition to the Water Services Bill which is being debated in the Dáil next Thursday and Friday.

Six opposition TDs, all left-wing representatives, repeated their opposition to the Bill which they portrayed as a gimmick.

At the conference, chaired by the artist Robert Ballagh, Sinn Féin 's Pearse Doherty said the Government was punch drunk and the rally next Wednesday "could be the sucker punch".

He said his party’s position on water charges did not differ from that of any of the other parties.

Sinn Féin would insist water charges be scrapped if it were in a position to enter government, or influence government, after the next election, he said.

The march will coincide with a vote of no confidence in the Government, which is being tabled by Sinn Féin as a private members’ motion.

Richard Boyd Barrett of People Before Profit said that The Irish Times poll reflected the reality that people had rejected Minister for the Environment Alan Kelly's "so-called" concessions on water charges.

“Tens of thousands of people will take to the streets on a working day,” he said, adding that any notion that the water charges campaign had lost momentum was seriously misplaced.

“We will have a really enormous turnout that will really surprise us,” said Mr Boyd Barrett.

Socialist Party TD Ruth Coppinger said the feedback she recived has got has been enormous and that people who would not normally march were willing to turn out.

She said she knew from monitoring social media before the nationwide march six weeks ago that the turn out for was going to exceed 50,000 to 60,000. Without stating a figure, she too said the turnout for the December 10th protest would be very large.

The other TDs who attended and spoke at the conference were Seamus Healy, representing Tipperary South; Joan Collins of United Left, who represents Dublin South Central; and Independent Deputy John Halligan from Waterford.

Mr Halligan said people had lost confidence in the Government and had already paid for water time and time agin.

Mr Healy spoke of his opposition to bin charges in Tipperary at a time they were being told it would be a very modest charge – now he said families in his constituency were paying €300 a year. He said the same would apply to water charges.

Ms Collins said that a group from Detroit who had their water cut off would be in attendance. Asked why the group had not advocated on behalf of the 90,000 to 100,000 households in the State who already pay water charges of an average €150 per annum in group water schemes — and have being doing so for up to 30 years — Mr Boyd Barrett said it was always implicit in the campaign that those households should not be paying for water services separately.

He said that if it was wished, the group would make it explicit that it wanted those in group water schemes to get their water for free.