Sign in. It’s quick, free and it’s up to you.
An account is an optional way to support the work we do. Find out more.
A GROUP OF 82 elderly and frail South Koreans held an emotional reunion with family members in North Korea today, more than 60 years after they were separated by the Korean War.
The first North-South family reunion for more than three years began around 3pm (6am GMT) with a mass gathering in the main hall of a resort on North Korea’s Mount Kumgang, a Unification Ministry official said in Seoul.
The event was the result of tortuous, high-level negotiations between Pyongyang and Seoul, which nearly broke down over the North’s objections to overlapping joint military exercises between South Korea and the United States.
The South Korean group and the 180 North Korean relatives who have come to meet them were all scheduled to dine together, with more private reunions planned for Friday.
Officials in Seoul revealed today that among the North Korean relatives were two fishermen who had been kidnapped by the North in the 1970s.
Hope and fears
The South Korean group, with an average age of 84, had left the eastern port city of Sokcho at 8:30am on board 10 buses, with half a dozen police vehicles as escorts.
South Korean Lee Son-hyang (88) and her brother Lee Yoon Geun (72) of North Korea as they are reunited.
The departure was delayed as two female members of the group needed medical attention, and ended up being placed into ambulances for the journey.
More than a dozen were in wheelchairs and needed help boarding the buses, which they shared with 58 family members, brought along for physical as well as emotional support.
After crossing the heavily militarised border, they arrived at the reunion venue where a brief lunch was followed by the first sight in six decades of their long-separated relatives.
Before boarding the buses in Sokcho, some spoke of their hopes and anxieties ahead of the meetings they had dreamed of for so long.
Buses carrying the South Koreans across the border. (AP Photo/Yonhap, Lee Jong-geun)
“I think when I see her face, I won’t believe it’s real,” Kim Dong-Bin, 81, said of the elder sister he left decades ago in Pyongyang.
I wonder if I will be able to recognise her immediately? It’s been so long.
All carried bags stuffed with gifts, ranging from basic medicines to framed family photos and packets of instant noodles.
Some brought bags of fresh fruit which they planned to offer in a joint prayer ceremony with their reunited siblings to their late parents.
“The gifts I’m bringing to my sister should be good. Something you can’t see much in North Korea so I hope she will be happy,” said Kim Se-Rin, 85.
“I’ve also included some US dollars for her and my younger brother,” Kim said.
Final farewell
Millions of Koreans were separated by the 1950-53 war, and the vast majority have since died without having any communication at all with surviving relatives.
Because the conflict ended with an armistice rather than a peace treaty, the two Koreas technically remain at war and direct exchanges of letters or telephone calls are banned.
(AP Photo/Yonhap, Lee Jong-geun)
The reunion programme began in earnest after a historic North-South summit in 2000, but the waiting list has always been far larger than the numbers that could be accommodated.
For many people, time simply ran out. Last year alone 3,800 South Korean applicants for reunions died without ever seeing their relatives.
For all the joy the reunion brings, it is tempered by the realisation that — given the participants’ advanced ages — it also marks a final farewell.
“This will be our first and last reunion,” Kim Dong-Bin acknowledged, shaking his head.
Etiquette
All the South Korean participants had spent the night in a Sokcho hotel, where they were given an “orientation” course by South Korean officials listing a series of dos and don’ts for their stay in Mount Kumgang.
“They were basically telling people not to discuss any political issues and not to be swayed by North Korean propaganda,” said Kim’s wife, Shin Myung-Soon.
The Kumgang event will be the first reunion since the programme was suspended following the North’s shelling of a South Korean border island in 2010.
A reunion had been planned at the same venue for last September, but was cancelled at the last minute by the North.
The emotional meetings with the 180 North Korean relatives will last until Saturday, after which the South Korean group will return home.
Then a selected group of 88 North Koreans will travel to Mount Kumgang to meet 361 of their relatives from the South from Sunday to Tuesday.
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
Who drinks only one cup of tea a day, in Ireland?!
Some of us drink 0 but we’re a rare breed.
A nice cup of tea solves all of life’s problems ;-)
http://www.irishcentral.com/culture/craic/Ten-top-reasons-why-the-Irish-love-their-cup-of-tea.html
And makes you live a shorter life.
I’m on my fifth and it’s only 10 am
Google.nl enter waterkosten nibud. I can tell you our water is going to be a lot more expensive than holland! 4.88/m3 is very high. Btw no car tax in germany. No vrt in germany or holland or uk or..etc. wait till they decrease the allowances in the future. Other taxes previously used for h20 should be reduced since we’re expected to pay a private company now directly.
I say it again ….. tea is for mugs.
Plus none of the money is going to be used to improve the pipes, which currently lose about 60% through leakage
€34 per year road tax in Portugal on a Peugeot 206. Fuel approx €1.60 varies per litre
God almighty get a life.
If its the same as other European countries with charging for water let’s have our VAT reduced to 19 or 20 percent and get the VRT removed. Like for like.
Quick question how will they start of the measuring of the meters.
I know they installed them all over the country outside all the houses over the last 6 months or so but how do they switch over or reset the meters from midnight tonight.
It may just be a silly question that has been answered before but how do I know that my meter is at 000 liters at the moment and will start to count from tomorrow onwards.
Read your meter.
The meters are “clever” ones – they have a memory and can store the end of month readings for several months. Irish Water (or subcontractor) will do drive by readings sometime before Jan.
Doesn’t matter if your meter is zero or not – it will store the reading from midnight 30th sept as the start point. more details about the meters here – http://www.moneyguideireland.com/irish-water-meter-readings-how-will-it-work.html
The Irish water debacle has raised many questions. However, one question I haven’t seen raised in the Irish media is the unintended consequences that may occur due to the Irish public having to pay for water.
It is likely that we will try to cut back on out water use in an attempt to save money.
Parts of Germany and San Francisco are dealing with serious sewerage problems due to people conserving water.
These problems are costing them millions of euros/dollars to fix.
http://www.mnn.com/your-home/at-home/blogs/revenge-of-the-low-flow-toilets
I wonder has anybody in Irish water given any thought to this type of potential problem.
Only time will tell.
Your meter is running since it was installed so read it . ours read 95000 yesterday before the charge kicked in
If you don’t have a dual flush toilet a good water saving tip is to fill a balloon with one or two litres of water and leave it in the cistern. This will save (what ever amount you put in the balloon ) every time you flush the toilet.
Hey! That’s actually brilliant! Cheers!
I find pooing in fields, beaches and laneways helps too.
You can save a lot of water by not flushing at all…!!
Simply poo in a bucket, and when it is full, – bring it to your nearest FG/Lab. TD. & leave it at their doorstep, – just to show them how good you are at saving water…..!!
ps. – don’t forget to take away the empty bucket…
best idea yet !
Moccy, this top water saving tip has my full approval. Good on ya!!
or fill some 250 ml plastic bottles .They are small and each 4 will mean 1 litre less being flushed down the drain. most flushes only need 1.5 litres to clear the toilet. ANOTHER TIP .If you use the kitcthen sink for washing up buy a basin that will fit and after washing up use the waste water to flush the downstairs or outside loo. By just emptying the basin direct into the toilet. Dont wash recycleables bin them as they are.
The service has never been free we always payed for it through taxes. In fact this is the third tax on the same natural resource.
It sure is but when we have to vote that’s where you have your say and I hope people this time wake up and vote out labour and FG and yes people will say Sinn Féin bla bla bla can’t see how worse they will do to be honest.
So we should all pee in pools?
CPM…Well now. It would make sense to drink as little tea/coffee as that will cost you for the water and eventually a flush.
Eat as little as this will save you another big flush.
This is a whole new lifestyle.
Pee in the top part of the toilet. That’s a money saver right there.
If you sit still and do as little as possible, you’ll sweat less and won’t need to shower as often. You’ll be rolling in the saved cash.
And if you have to pee-pee here.!
http://youtu.be/ru-Kun7be6k
What about washing the dirty recyclables before putting them in the clean dry recycle bin, don’t you rinse the empty milk carton rinse out those beer bottles cans or jam jars or spogball jars
I’d say some might avoid this and put it straight into the grey landfill bin now there is a couple of thousand ton of extra landfill waste the country will have to deal with and I’m sure .
“Flushing a modern toilet (6 litres) = €0.01/€0.03. Tenflushes a day would cost €53.44/€106.87.”
It takes about ten flushes to get rid of a good dump in one of those things.
That floater in the jax this morning now costs “2 bob” to flush..Or 3 bob..or more as it bobs away
If your stool is floating, you should see a doctor. That’s too much fat in your shite, it’s a sign of certain illnesses.
Caught between two stools on whether to flush or not to flush.
33 and turd .
Now if only the government can find a way of taxing us for the air we breath.
i’m sure them knobs will find away paul
They do, in the form of USC..
Paul Mc…Don’t give them ideas.
they do, carbon tax
Drowning the ‘EU Yes’ men in the Dail = Priceless
Who uses their dishwasher three times a week?!! …. Every day for us!!
Teenager in house is going to have a life changing experience ….. He won’t be spending half the day under the shower.
Off to give the kitchen floor it’s last wash and load the washing machine. …. I’ve spent years roaring at them to flush the toilet – now time to undo it – dry shampoo sales will soar
Last 15 minute luxury shower …. The hair won’t be rinsed properly anymore ….
And the kettle will be having a rest …. Dishes washed in the sink …. Football kits will have muddy trademarks
Or the washing machine FFS ! There having a laugh 3 times a week
It will cost you more to wash dishes in the sink than the dishwasher in the long run
My washing machine runs at least four times a day every day including weekends .
Leave the dishes out in the rain. Grand.
What are you a laundrette!! Feck sake!
This article doesn’t seem to be taking this issue very seriously at all.
Filling a hot water bottle? Ice cubes?
Depends on the size of your hose, “if you don’t mind us asking”?
Are you for real? This charge will cost me at least €500/year which I haven’t got. It’s a disgrace – an affront to that huge silent minority of us that are just trying to get on with life. An insult to all of the people of Ireland… yet all The Journal can manage to add to the debate is this tabloid drivel.
Shocking.
Some serious figures on expected charges can be found here:
http://www.moneyguideireland.com/figures-for-water-charges-released.html
Pat the bug problem is that the populace for most part are silent and allow it to happen
Dream world – We all take to the streets to show we will not accept this, as per the Brazilian population when the Gov’ attempted to increase bus prices by 4 cents. .
Reality – “ah sher, what can you do? chancres the lot of them!! Pint?”
There’ll be some queue at the jacks in work now for everyone needed to do the old double flushers.
not if water charges get repealed by the next government in 2016 :)
It will cost the same as it costs now, the only difference being that under this new plan we will be paying for it twice.
Do not register with IrishWater, do not give them your PPSN. http://irish-revolution.blogspot.ie/2014/09/why-irishwater-really-wants-your-pps.html
I messages a local FF personal who didnt get elected last time & he suggested that when I filled in the form not to include the PPS no as that was what he was doing. If we don’t pay it then what happens, will they try turn off every ones water as it’s part of a person’s health that supply of water is a requirement/ the law or included in the constitution cant remember which.
If you don’t supply your PPSN , then you will not qualify for any allowances that basically all. There is no legal requirement for PPSN unless you want to avail of these allowances. you will still get a bill, whether you decide to pay it or not. it basically amounts to blackmail
“If you don’t supply your PPSN , then you will not qualify for any allowances that basically all. There is no legal requirement for PPSN unless you want to avail of these allowances. you will still get a bill, whether you decide to pay it or not. it basically amounts to blackmail”
Great advice. So you end up with a €424 fine as well as your bills.
how will you get a fine for not giving your PPSN ? where did you get €424 from , you just wont qualify for allowances. yes your bill will be higher obviously your not getting any allowances
From a few of the comments you are miss informing people with I presume you are either too lazy to read up on this or are just trolling
“where did you get €424 from , ”
The main story on the Indo.
I have no idea what sort of magic bullet you think your PPSN idea is, you keep going on about it like it’s some get out of jail card, but what I do know is this; you are not going to outsmart the system. You will end up paying what you should have paid, plus any other fines/fees you’ve incurred along the way.
Hopefully no one reading this is actually taking your suggestions seriously. You should really leave these theories where they were formed – on the barstool. That’s the harsh realityof the situation, I’m sure you’re going to fire back with some other theory, but like I said above you will end up paying, whether voluntarily or not.
muwhaha .l you read the indo and believe what it says. All my information had come directly from government IW and the CER. maybe you can break down that €424 and explain how its made up. You’ve asked me for links to support my arguments, which I provided and yet you still dismiss them, yet your source is the indo. muwhahahahah.. Cop on Twink, Don’t be a government spin agent all your life.
The PPS number is a big issue for some people me included. I do not want an utility company having that level of information on my household and family, especially when there is no plan or commitment in place post 2016. Laws can be changed and parts of IW can be sold off along with your personal information. A Name and address should be more than enough information for any utility company to have in order to bill you. By not providing your PPSN you will be charged without out allowances.
If you choose not to pay at all then that’s a different kettle of fish, which might incur interest or late charges, that part I have no information on as CER or IW have not stated what will happen to people who don’t pay, apart from the blanket statement of we will purse legal avenues
It might also be possible to not claim the allowances from IW and get them directly from revenue in the from of a tax rebate seeing as revenue are paying your allowances for you out of your tax money. But that also needs further investigation, but all in due time.
So just to see it from your point of view I logged on to the indo, and you have grossly miss interpreted that story within the first few line. Its not a fine, its exactly as I said, you will be charged for water without allowance and that will amount to a total €424 per anum (which actually might be cheaper than declaring your details if you have a lot of adults in your house.) . At no point does it mention its a fine or interest charges. Please stop miss informing people YOU WILL NOT BE FINED FOR NOT PROVIDING YOUR PPSN you just won’t be able to claim any allowances.
From the Indo
HOUSEHOLDERS who fail to register with Irish Water face an annual charge of €424, it emerged this morning.
The regulator said that this will be made up of the average charge of €278 for two adults – and they will not receive the annual free allowance of €146 a year
- See more at: http://www.independent.ie/irish-news/revealed-householders-who-fail-to-register-face-424-annual-water-charge-30625875.html#sthash.tAoZIilH.dpuf
And just to back up that last bit on it might actually be cheaper to not declare your info if there are a lot of adults in your house. €424 per annum is the default charge for not declaring.
A house with 4 adults will pay €480 per annum (as per IW and CER documents)
A house with 5 adults will pay €584 per annum (as per IW and CER documents)
Anyone with 4 or more adults in the house who is not on a meter would be best to ignore IW phising packs and just pay the default charge in January if they so wished.
The system is wide open to abuse, you don’t even have to provide them with any information to benefit from these loopholes. just pay your bill when it arrives and save money.
Here’s another piece of info , family’s who don’t have a meter should not provide their children’s details at all. Don’t even declare they are in the house. Why?
Those without meters will be on an assessed usage amount, so if children are allowed 21k litres a year then how are they going to take 21k litres off an assess usage? They can’t it would be impossible. So they will just charge you for 2 adults as children are supposed to be free. (This is also in the CER documents)
Family’s not on meters who provide information on their children are giving this info away for no reason, it will be collect but not used unless you go onto a meter. And seeing as they wont have all the meter’s installed till gone 2016 (which is when current government subsidies run out) There is no need to pre provide them with this info. Wait till you get a meter or until government provide a commitment post 2016.
€222 for one 5 min shower per person, annually ? So two people having 10 minute shower will cost €800 per annum for shower costs alone??? Did I read that right ? Where are they getting predictions of annual bill being €238???
It won’t be that much, those calculations aren’t taking into account each person’s free allowance.
‘free’ allowances will be scraped or vastly reduced after 2016 when government subsidies are review and pulled
I put the free bit in quotations as the so called free allowances are still paid for by the tax payer.
“‘free’ allowances will be scraped or vastly reduced after 2016 when government subsidies are review and pulled”
Do you have a source for that?
Seriously.. Did you not even bother to look at the CER documents relating to the structure and charges Seriously,,
from the CER document seeing as your so lazy to read it yourself but want to question the validity of my statement, I’ll make it easy for you, please not the end of the quote “in order to establish the regulatory framework and
collect the necessary data for the first full price control. ” ”
Quote
“· Irish Water is a newly established entity, formed from 34 independent Local Authorities,
and as such there is a limited amount of consistent historic data available against which
the CER can benchmark costs and expected levels of performance. This has meant that 4
the CER is implementing a shorter than normal interim review period of just over two
years (1st October 2014 to end 2016), in order to establish the regulatory framework and
collect the necessary data for the first full price control. ”
Seriously…So what you’re saying is, there’s no mention of the free allowance being scrapped? It’s purely speculation on your part?…Seriously.
/seriously
I suggest you read it again. the aim of IW is to take full control of payments and be self sufficient. its in the government plan to 2016, A new government will be in place after 2016, then have no commitment to keep allowances. Allowances will be phased out. When parts of IW are sold off do you think a private company will honour any commitment to give away free water.
seriously do some research and don’t be fooled by politicians that have been caught out lieing over and over again just to get votes.
These allowances are also NOT free , they are paid for from out tax’s. Who fund government spending?
Like I said – all speculation on your part. I don’t need to read it again.
Seriously.
your choice not to believe what’s there in black and white.
This is a quote from Phil Hogan on the issue which is the only piece i can find that mentions government subvention post 2016, They are very scarce on information or commitment for 2017 and onwards, and for good reason, notice the word ‘anticipated’, great word that.
” As it is anticipated that Government subvention to Irish Water will continue beyond 2016, decisions will have to be made in a budgetary context on the level of Government support to Irish Water beyond 2016.”
All you’ve managed to establish that they will be reviewing the issue after 2016. It doesn’t say they’re scrapping allowances. But I agree with the original poster about the shower issue. It’s ludicrously expensive. Showers alone even for a couple with no kids are going to be in the hundreds, especially with power showers which is what most people have.
It also doesn’t say they are keeping them, the current plan is to 2016, there is no current plan that extends to 2017 and beyond, therefore there is no provision for subsidies post 2016, not as yet anyway. It will be up to the government to decide if they are going to provide a subsidy after 2016, and currently there isn’t .
“if its yellow let it mellow, if it’s brown flush it down”
Shared a house with a smoker who was fond of letting it mellow, the bowl in the downstairs jax was stained as badly as his teeth after a while.
So much for sanitation.
we’ll be joining our pets, Pissing and Shitting in our own backyards
I already do piss in the back garden, It’s nitrogen rich grass food.
This is just the start of it,watch over the next few years how the cost of water will get more and more expensive
Well lets all make this the end of it.
Just wait until the next election Enda – you and your gang of walking excrement will be flushed away.
If I’ve learned anything in my short life it is that whatever party jumps in after Fine Gael will bemoan water charges but will refuse to do anything about them. All hail the downward spiral!!!
If only.!-big farmers will always vote though.
Denis O’Brien to purchase Iris Water in a few years.
Iris Water? Commonly know as tears. ☺
he wont ‘purchase ‘it tony, no these clowns will find some way of paying him to take it over !
Seems reasonable. Why should the service be free?
Its not free. The current system is paid for out of our general taxation. On top of that the subsidy the government is paying for our free allowances is also going to be paid out of our general taxation,. And then on top of that we are going to get bills which we have to pay to IW. We are paying paying and paying again.
It’s not free and has never been free. We’ve been paying for it for years, through our taxes, which have not decreased.
Head in the sand or just trolling Kieran. Please people stop saying that water is free, it never was.
Yeah, but the country clearly doesn’t take enough tax to cover it’s running. So it’s either this or even higher taxes to cover our shortfalls.
Makes sense you would pay for your usage. Don’t waste water and you won’t have to pay that much. Plus less showers, half full dishwashers, half full washes, and other wastage is much better for the environment.
At an average cost of 2-300 Euro a year it seems perfectly reasonable. Less than a Euro a day, two pints a week or less than a packet of cigarettes.
If it’s really something that you think is unfair and want to do something about, stop voting for the same idiots repeatedly. Fine Gael = Fianna Fail, same shit different clowns.
The country does take enough tax to pay for water. it just prefers to channel 9bn each year of that tax take to pay interest on our loans. 1.6bn interest each year on the private debt of the bank bail out that should not be in the public domain.
Simon, the country borrows money every year and always has done, even before the dreaded bailout. We’ve never been self sufficient so using the bailout as an argument is pointless.
Kieran does have a valid point . People that paid upwards of €20000 to supply water from their own well and a waste water facility should have been paying less income tax if that argument was right. Instead they’ve been paying exactly the same tax as people with state provided water and sewerage systems.
Another ply by IW,9 months unmetered suck all into a contract, you’ll have all the people ahh it’s not to bad sure it only a few €s a month,everyone will be celebrating, having a bath twice a day,showering 3 times a day, drinking tea until it comes out their ears,and then the metered tax comes in and your all f##ked sucked into a contract by IW,don’t be fooled, return to sender application pack and any bills they send you, if your on sky and upc send you a bill will you pay it,if a milkman leaves milk at your door will you pay it, no so don’t pay this extra tax ,you already pay.
Declan , if you do not want to pay for your water then don’t send anything back to them at all , the advise is to ignore the letter but if you send it back as “return to sender” or anything like that then you are engaging with them and that’s where they have you. !
Anyone fancy a water fight later?
Count me in.
Go on then if your paying ;-) (sounds like a shouting for a round in the pub)
If you promise to wear all black Laura.
Laura, now that I look at your twitter page I take it back, if you could wear your tennis whites that would be great. “more water”
What is ridiculously unfair is that if one person in a household has a medical condition requiring additional water the usage of the whole household is capped. Water should have been charged like every other utility with no ‘free’ allowance. One again the squeezed middle will end up paying the lions share.
So I guess The “success” of the bin charges (countryside destroyed with bags of refuse spilled out on every country lane) gives us an Idea of the future with irish water: a filthy dirty population. What a win for “the pricing model”.
Water is not a luxury, it is a requirement for life. To say the state cannot afford to continue to provide water as it has done for the last 80 years is bullshit. It is similar to a flat tax. Insignificant for the very rich, prohibitive for everyone else. This is another step towards serfdom. At the same time, the same government thinks it is a good idea to have GP access free at the point of access (it is a good idea). Why not have water free at the point of access? My guess is, its simply inertia from troika dictats. I will not vote for Fine Gael in the next election unless this water tax is repealed. It is a terrible idea and hopefully will last about as long as taxation on children’s shoes did.
I have stopped them putting on a meter at my supply and I won’t be paying any water bills,time for the people to revolt against this BS
The average bill for a household with two adults is listed as €238. The cost of taking a shower every day for one person is €0.61, which means if you shower every day it will be €222.65 a year for one person. If you have two adults in the house and the two of you take a shower every day that’s €445.30, 100% more than the estimate and that is before you get into any other charges. Are they really suggesting that we do not shower every day? Is that really a possibility for people who work physical jobs?
Some people take their rubbish and throw it away on the highways and byways as a result of being unable to pay for refuse collection. I imagine a lot of people are going to skip sanitation and cleanliness in order to put food on the table.
I don’t think it’s an exaggeration to say that the government has just cut its own political throat.
It’ll cost me nothing because I won’t be paying it.
It will cost 2.44 for 1000 litres that you use and it will cost 95 cent for just 2 litres in aldi
No Joan it will cost us what it has cost up us till now (taxes) as we are not paying again for it.
hahaha good luck getting a cent from me
Ahhhh heeooor
Leave it awuut!
I wonder how much rinsing things before you put them in the recycling will cost? Might turn people off recycling. That would be a bad minus for our environment (assuming the stuff we put in the recycling bins actually gets recycled).
The though of not flushing the toilet during the “time of the month” is going to be disturbing for some people.
Thought not though.
The average family with 3 children will use approximately 350000 to 400000 liters per year. If you take into account the allowances for the 3 children and one adult. It would work out at around. €1400 a year.
The CER statement quotes 66,000 litres for a single adult household with 21,000 for an additional adult and the same free for each child giving an allowance of 150,000 litres per annum for €278. The information at the beginning of the article is wrong in terms of allowance and doesnt clarify really that its cost examples, after the allowance is used. This is a serious matter and one that requires the media to at the very least have their facts correct before putting the fear of God in to people.
The above article is a bit tongue and cheek ( and I enjoyed it for that), but theres a lot of serous decisions to be made yet by each and every one of us.
Spent the last hour on to Irish Water and trying to figure out charges. I can only conclude CER statement misleading in terms of figures and the above is incorrect. For the first time, I am truly annoyed at the incompetence in the handling of this whole affair. The government and Irish Water have no defence for their mismanagement of this.
CER have stated that they will collect 2.078bn from taxpayers to cover them to end of 2016, that works out at €594 per year for a household with both services..
I would encourage everyone to down load both these documents and read them, then read them again. you will be surprised at what’s coming down the road and what they have signed up to on our behalf. And the fact that they haven’t a clue what their doing or saying
The devil is in the detail make sure you understand it before you even consider if you are going to reply to them or not.
For the first time, Joe? What a very patient man you are.
keeping a goldfish??!!!!…..standard of journalism is stooping to a new low each day….of course its only the online stuff that shows such…the Journal would,nt even make it to the level of “the big issue” in hard copy….
This quango better be abolished at the next election, because it will be this government’s equivalent of the Poll Tax. Deeply unpopular and completely moronic that the government indulges in this politics of fear about how many cups of tea a day someone could afford. FFS, this is just mental. My take would be to use all the investment in meters to get on with fixing water leakages throughout the system, which will save in the longer term. But they need to fire all these ridiculous consultants, as this is taking the P***.
But as a caution of how these ‘service charges’ can rocket over the years, my elderly aunt in the UK is a 90 year old widow, living alone in a bungalow. She pays £2000 per annum in the Community Charge, but gets 10% discount (ha) as she’s elderly. As she has a garden, she pays £200 p.a. in order to be able to legally water it. And I repeat, she’s a ninety year old pensioner…
The way some of you are talking about it you’d get the impression people are planning on paying. Just remember, the more you let the government piss on you the more showers you’ll have to take.
With all these dumb and gloom comments you’d think we where the first people on the planet to pay for water usage
We already pay for it, TWICE! Road tax (maintenance & upkeep of the water service, wherever thats gone? oh yeah, Mr O Brien’s greasy mits!!) LPT (Over €100m) was used to set up this facist regime service to bully people into paying a 3rd time, So in summary pay 3 times for 1 service to a Tax Exile living in Malta!!
Not to mention to most expensive in Europe!
Oh dear, Oh dear oh dear oh dear. You all are so misinformed about this. Where do you get your info from, the Denis O’Brien/FG controlled media?
Boganity thats all well and good but when peoples income has been slashed causing many families to get in to debt and others barely able to keep their heads above water, if you forgive the pun?, putting yet another utility bill on top of all the existing ones is going to be yet another nail in the coffin for the already hard up.
But of course none of those in government ever needed to scrape an existence and never will.
Get down off your pompous high horse Boganity and get with the real world!.
11.10.2014 Saturday we meet in the garden of remembrance to protest against this insult
Just as a comparison, here in the US, in our 3 adult + 1 baby home, the highest monthly water bill I have paid is $73. That includes sewage And also trash disposal.
Bogs nitty We already pay for water
My tea consumption alone will use my entire allowance! Seriously would it be cheaper to buy Aldi or Lidl water?
I won’t have to pay Irish Water anything, I don’t have a contract with them and never will.
All this propaganda from media all over Ireland is getting annoying, Media shouldn’t be promoting Government agendas, or in this case Private Company Agendas, Media is supposed to have a free voice and not be used as a platform by other bodies.
It’s all bullshit, sheeple need to start to think for themselves, don’t believe the crap, you already pay for water, it’s yours already and no one can take it from you. If you fill in that IW form you give away your right to that water. So bin it and stop worrying.
cue the bang of B.O on public transport everyday!
Ah here, you can get that on the bus anytime, some people don’t know the meaning of soap or deodorant or how it’s a good idea to put on fresh underwear every day – and that can be first thing in the morning too. Disgusting.
The way I see it is -
The water charges will be only a temporary measure until the next General Election. After which you’ll have some mix of a Government coalition made up of the current opposition who are opposed to the water charges – FF/SF/Ind. As such they’ll disband Irish Water and we’ll all be laughing about it in years to come whilst watching “Reeling in the Years 2014-2016″.
Anyone else share my optimism?
Why should such a rag tag bunch of disparate people ever have to try and rule the country, when Fianna Fail and Fine Gael will have enough seats to form a government of “National Unity” which will save us from Sinn Fein etc and continue, just as before. ?
You fools you blind fools-can you not still see that politicians will say-and do-anything to maintain power..
How many times have you been betrayed.?
They play circus games daily in Dail Eireann to entertain you, while doing nothing to alleviate your suffering.!
Can you not see where all this is going.?
What is the difference between a party of strokers, small farmers and Gombeen men(Fianna Fail)-and those who representatives big farmers and big business (Fine Gael).?
Will Irish water be free.?
The fight is only beginning, in my opinion.
When the politicians begin to listen to the huge groundswell of animosity towards this iniquitous form of new taxation.(Despite the propaganda to the contrary) they had better change tack and raise their taxes elsewhere.The end of the Haddington style agreements would make a starting point.
An extra bill of 800 Euros per annum for water is a minor imposition on people whose wages (even if only one is working) are 30% higher than the private sector.
A bill of 800 Euros for water is really 1600 Euros because there is no tax relief for this new tax.!
Fine Gael and Fianna Fail are smug at present because they think we have nowhere to turn to.They already know they will go into coalition after the next election (and make Sinn Fein cool their heels as the main opposition party)
Citizens of Dublin have recently marched on Coolock and Raheny Garda stations in response to their provision of heavy handed ” protection services” to Irish Water installers inserting meters in the stopcocks of citizens against their will.
“A terrible beauty is born”?
Perhaps Fine Gael and the Labour party have-at last- “given us back our James Connolly/Jim Larkin/Michael Davitt dead.!”
http://youtu.be/zSnTxt_utWw
If there is not a meter installed then the water supply cannot be reduced to a trickle.
BL
No body is resisting this charge according the 99% of the media, the are not resisting it in Coolock , or in North Dublin at all, certainly not I Moyross in Limerick, In Mooncoin in Kilkenny, In Ferrybank , in hundreds of estates now across the island you can see scenes like the one below. The Foreign media had to be contacted as far away as Canada and Australia and thankfully are taking interest, A BBC documentary on the Media Blackout of protest is to air this week .
Here is a sample of what RTE TV3 TG4 Independent Newspapers Irish press newspapers would rather we did not know about.
https://www.facebook.com/groups/279741635509093/381842455299010/?notif_t=group_activity
@Martin – when’s that on BBC?
I am on a private scheme and am metered for years
They can supply it for €1euro / 1000 L
Not sending form back and I just hope Irish water bill me cause then it will be game on
Exactly my line of thought. This is a tax too far.
If even two people living together have a power shower and obviously most days would each have a shower, that’s well over €400 a year. For a shower alone?
I think that €250 average is farcical.
Sean J – the figures in the article are charges ignoring the free allowance. The first €176 worth or water is free.
Maybe the cuddlier ones could share a shower together , but might lead to more young ones appearing and higher charges …
NO CONSENT, NO CONTRACT NOT PAYING!
3rd paragraph is incorrect. Only one allowance of 30,000 litres will be applied to a house with extra for each child (17 & below) whom you submit a PPS & are in receipt of child benefit.
Can anyone point out where in the water services act the allowance for children is mentioned? I found the bit which says they can hold a ‘database’, but nothing on the conditions of what a child is, or a link to social welfare/child allowance.
Just got a power shower installed and a power washer for the car.
Love me wells :)
Just be happy for me…
The idea of having a smelly nation of people seems regressive. Infections to spread, washing of containers for recycling will stop. Makes you wonder.
We have a filter on the goldfish tank, keeps the water clean for ages. Should use bottled water for the tank, big bottle from Aldi should only set you back a couple of Euros. A top tip from me to you!!
Stay well away from bottled water for your fish, you will ruin the pH of your tank and the Carbonate Hardness levels are likely to change on you as well. Dead fish not so good.
Get out of my garden ye fu(kers !
“I think I’ll have a bath” I said, “Do” said mom, “before they start charging for the water” #typicalirishmammy
Drowning the government = priceless
I hear Boyle has changed it’s spelling to Boil!
If it’s yellow let it mellow, if it’sbrown flush it down. That’s what me ma used to say.
How much if my kids leave a tap running just before our 2 week holiday. Ouch.
a neighbour of mine (in Spain) had a small leak in her toilet cistern.It was just some grit keeping a washer from closing and the slow dripping was quite unnoticeable as the cistern re filled after dropping to a certain point.
Here in Gran Canaria in the south of the Island there is no rain-ever! (maybe five times a year)
In the North, rainwater (falls in winter now and then) is collected in mountain dams and sold on to farmers for irrigation purposes.
All drinking water is purchased.
It costs 1-30 Euros for a 10 litre bottle of pure mineral water.Not so bad.
All other water for washing and toilet/showers/swimming pools etc is desalinated water harvested from the sea in a huge desalination plant in Las Palmas the capital city.
This water is relatively pure and safe to drink.
Some people use it for making coffee but there is some small saline residue and most prefer pure mineral water.
Despite the huge expense in this procedure (come to think of it it could be done in Ireland too) our water in Gran Canaria costs 1-80 per cubic meter.! The waste treatment/sewage charge is 40 Cents per cubic meter (1000 litres)
There is no “standing charge”. One buys and one installs one´s own water meter
The total price comes to a grand total of Euros 2-20 per cubic meter for all general purpose water.
I understand Irish Water” will commence with a modest “free” allowance.However their water is coming in at almost three times the price of our desalinated water.!-and that without removing a “subsidy” of 700 million Euros for the next two years.
After the next election, and the removal of all “subsidies” only God knows what the “Regulator” will be obliged to set the rate at.
Therefore any calculations on the cost of a shower or a defecation or a urination at this point in time are only a temporary little convenience.The real cost will kick in at the beginning of 2017.
Put a sign in your garden if youre not paying. Like a for sale sign. We must build solidarity and resist the bought and sold politicians attempts at divide and conquer.
You must be great fun at parties.
@Deborah, talking of parties reminds me of a question that came up at one recently over dinner and that is when did this pretentious nonsense of sing double barrelled names catch on in Ireland ? Maybe a good hosing down would cure it.
it’s gonna be a smelly winter ahead i tells ya
Wait for the summer, then we talk smelly
What charges exactly? No consent, no contract.
I won’t be paying any bills for water use as I won’t be entering any contract with Iris Water.
Will they bring down the price of bottled water?
I can only respond to that question by asking you if you remember what a certain Mr Michael Bailey said to one James Gogarty, when James asked if Ray Burke would provide a receipt for the 50,000 cash “donation” they were about to hand over..
legalize cannabis for both recreational and medicinal purposes and it’d add tens of millions of € to the exchequer which is being lost out on due to it’s ridiculous ‘illegal’ status . and with all that extra cash you wouldn’t hafta bring in water charges on people who already can’t afford to pay.
Now we will,have
Smelly teenagers , smelly adults , BO on public transport, not a car washed from mizen to Donegal , no public transport cleaned , no driveways washed down , people running into work to use the toilets and showers, people calling to the house advised to pay a few bob for using toilets , Barry’s tea going out of business due to drop in consumption , very smelly pets walking about , more library being used as they have toilets , visitors commenting on the dirty irish , fire brigades doubling cost of call outs for using there water , maybe not putting fires out every second fire to save water, people going to jail for non payment of € 1000′s of fines , burly types calling to the door to extort money from you , maybe taking your house. No more friends of our teenagers coming into the house they can meet in a pub or a hotel and use there water or bring there own. Lidl and Aldi rubbing hands for all the new sales of bottled water … Anyway enjoy it tonight as tomorrow you’ll be screwed
You have to play these ‘people’ at their own game.
48% of water used is for Washing Machine, Toilet and Outside Tap.
With a minimum of filtering and pumping/plumbing you can be self sufficient for 48% of the water you use.
After that the so called 30KL ‘free’ allowance will do the rest.
You will end up paying them nothing or paying some then getting that refunded.
The initial investment in pump/tanks/basic filtering will pay for itself over a few years.
Water for Toilet,Washing Machine and outside taps do not need a lot of filtering.
You can buy a cheap water meter (eBay), install it in your house and you can judge easily then how much of a saving you can make.
The new ‘push fit’ plumbing makes the plumbing part easy.
Lots of videos on you tube about it.
Germany and Ireland are being threatened with court action by the EU for not charging for water/waste water.
Privatisation is only a small step away then after a few years
All seems very reasonable.
Everybody keeps saying that they are not going to pay but can anybody answer , what they are going to do when their water gets reduced down to a trickle ? How are you going manage then ?
That’s not going to happen. its scare tactics. 3/4 of the houses do not even have meters installed.
joan, they cant ‘reduce ‘your supply, meters only have 3 connection points 1 for main line supply in 1 for main line supply through and one for mainline to property , the ‘tap’ or lever only has 2 positions , open and closed , open alwaws water to flow through closed,closes off the entire supply ,as it would be illegal to completely shut off the supply to your home and there is no provision within the system to reduce flow they cant cut you off ! its just scare tactics undertaken by iw and this shower of bully boys in the dail.
Since you keep on repeating the same question on every thread, Joan, and are obviously determined to pay – what business is it of yours what other people may do in any circumstance?
Sheik , I keep asking because nobody is really answering the question and I am not determined to pay at all I have not filled out any forms , am I not allowed to be worried without being accused ?
Eric , thanks for that .
Dig a well
i’ll just reimburse myself by taking whatever I feel is owed to to me .
if you are a slave to the system pay up like good little citizens and let them herd you whichever way they want.
Water is a human right, our right, the right of the people not the right of the fat rich corrupt class,
No Pasaran to Irish water..!
Typical rip off ireland. As soon as the state gets in on charging for something new it abuses its power. Cavan where i live i am connected to a group water scheme. I pay a standing charge of E90.00 per annum. I pay E0.90 per 1000L and i get a annual allowence of 100,000L irresective of how many in the house. Last year as a family of 5 we used 131,000L of water my bill for the year E117.00. Ill not do the math on IW’s charges lest i make anyone ill…..
Friends in monaghan have been paying water charges for years. The country I’m from I paid water charges before I moved here 11 years ago.
You can’t expect a service for nothing
Allison it’s not a service for nothing.
We already pay €1,2000,000,000 every year for water.
That amounts to €400 each for a population of 4 Million.
Sorry correct figure is €300 a year for 4 mill payers
3 Cups of Day , Every Day? I think I’ll have me some of that
Can someone tell me are the figures in this article relating to the IW charges only OR are they incorporating what we already pay thru taxes as well?
who knows how much it’s really gonna cost it’s all just a guessing game some mad free for all might aswell be a lottery how much your gonna get billed
Well im going to the pub. For a dumb, that is.
If its yellow….let it mellow
If its brown…flush it down
Or better still retain until the next FG/Lab moron comes around looking for your vote….
Thank God kids are in school for 9 months a year!
Feck’s sake. Next they’ll be charging us for the air we breathe. Time to get out of this country
Don’t change more than 1/3 of that aquarium water every week! Use an aquarium additive to remove the chlorine (it’s cheap, ask at the petshop), and let the new water stand to reach the temp of the tank before you remove some and add the new water….
have your say