Sir, – I watched our distinguished Senators debate for many hours the water services Bill.
An inelegant display of showboating and pomposity by a number of them convinced me of the following: the Taoiseach was correct in seeking to have this assembly of privilege abolished; I should get out more often. – Yours, etc,
MARK BUCKLEY,
Bray,
Co Wicklow.
Sir, – A number of commentators have begun to question why the most striking Irish popular reaction to austerity has come against the relatively minor imposition of the Irish Water charges.
In his letter, Felix M Larkin (December 23rd) puts the public anger evident at demonstrations across the country in the context of a "revolution of rising expectations".
In other words, an improving economy and the perception that things are getting better has actually provoked this mass revolt.
Might it be closer to the truth to suggest that the imposition of the Irish Water charges has simply come to many people as the final straw?
Granted, there were no public protests when the bankers were bailed out or the troika came to Dublin, nor following the imposition of the universal social charge or local property tax.
For many people, though, the sight of water meters being installed in their estates and neighbourhoods has resulted in a very visible indication of how austerity has impacted upon their lives. That, and the stories we have read about the bonuses being paid to Irish Water executives.
It’s not that the Irish Water charges are seen as any more unfair than the other austerity measures imposed over the past six years, but people had to reach breaking point in terms of paying for the sins of a tiny elite at some stage.
Strangely, at any of the Irish Water protests I have attended in recent months, I have yet to hear anyone express the opinion that the perception that things were improving had provoked them to revolution. – Yours, etc,
CIARAN TIERNEY,
Rahoon,
Galway.
Sir, – The old Irish phrase “uisce faoi thalamh” really came into its own this year. According to the sources, while it literally means “water under the ground”, it actually refers to a conspiracy! – Yours, etc,
OLIVER McGRANE,
Rathfarnham,
Dublin 16.