We need your help now
Support from readers like you keeps The Journal open.
You are visiting us because we have something you value. Independent, unbiased news that tells the truth. Advertising revenue goes some way to support our mission, but this year it has not been enough.
If you've seen value in our reporting, please contribute what you can, so we can continue to produce accurate and meaningful journalism. For everyone who needs it.
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.
By continuing, you are indicating that you accept our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy.
WATER PROTESTS IN the Dubin 5 area have been in the news sporadically in recent weeks.
An initial demonstration hit the headlines in late April when a small group of protesters from anti-austerity group ‘Dublin Says No’ picketed a house on Watermill Drive, Raheny.
Further demonstrations have also been taking place in the wider area — including Donaghmede, Raheny’s Grange Road, Edenmore Crescent and at Briarfield in Kilbarrack.
Along with the DSN activists, members of People Before Profit, Sinn Féin, Éirigí and other groups have been involved in the demonstrations.
In some cases, householders have requested the help of the campaigners — and their neighbours have turned out to support the actions.
In others, locals have complained about their presence — and asked that they leave their area.
A demo at Briarfield in Kilbarrack in April [Dublin Says No/Facebook]
The anti-water meters protests were back in the headlines this week — as a result of chaotic scenes at Tonlegee Drive in Raheny, where a wheelchair-user was hospitalised after an incident that took place in the course of a demonstration.
Campaigners with DSN were also accused of threatening and “thuggish” behaviour when they picketed the Taoiseach’s appearance at a nearby elderly care centre.
[Sam Boal/Photocall Ireland]
Derek Byrne, from Donaghmede, one of the main organisers of the DSN campaign, has rejected the accusations of inappropriate behaviour — insisting nurses and patients were happy to see them at the event at St Joseph’s Hospital.
Speaking to TheJournal.ie on Tonlegee Drive yesterday, he also defended the group’s tactics of actively interfering with metering work.
A series of videos posted online by Byrne show harried-looking contractors being taunted by demonstrators for prolonged periods (the workers have clearly been instructed by higher-ups not to react). Amongst the many clips, there’s also footage of Byrne repeatedly stepping on a shovel as a frustrated worker attempts to dig the pavement.
And while he was satisfied that his group appeared to have secured a temporary victory on the road, with work halted for the time-being, he said that if the workers came back they’d “literally be lynched”.
Derek Byrne of ‘Dublin Says No’ [Pic: Daragh Brophy]
Residents’ views
A quick canvass of the road as locals took the sun in their gardens and came out to collect their bins provided a very different interpretation of the week’s events, however.
Elderly residents spoke of an atmosphere of fear and intimidation in the area, with most expressing a desire for the protesters to leave the scene and let the metering work take place.
A member of the local residents’ association committee said she was “absolutely disgusted” by their presence and that locals were “definitely not happy” with the demonstrators’ actions.
“They’re making a disgrace of the place,” she said.
While some residents said they didn’t mind the group being there — many others complained of loud, unruly behaviour, “too much roaring and shouting” and traffic disruption along the quiet residential road, where the overwhelming majority of home-owners are aged in their 70s and 80s.
“They’re not from the area. We don’t know who these people are,” the woman from residents’ association said.
“There’s no-one from the street supporting them, and there’s been huge disruption as a result. The bus couldn’t get down here yesterday because all this was going on — and some of us have trouble walking and getting about.
“We’re afraid,” she added. “We’re don’t know who’s hanging around or what they’re doing.”
I saw a sign saying ‘thirsty for a revolution’ … We’re not.
The vast majority of residents who spoke said that — with the exception of one man, whose parents own a house on the road — no-one from Tonlegee Drive had turned out to stand with the protesters.
Tonlegee Drive, Raheny
Reports of just how many activists are involved in the ongoing actions differ — but most suggest the numbers only ever swell to about thirty at the maximum.
In general, what happens is that a small number of organisers keep an eye on locations where they know contractors are active.
When they begin work, reinforcements are called in.
What happened this week…
As a result of the presence of the protesters, installations have been sporadic on Tonlegee Drive for almost three weeks — but Irish Water insist work had to take place on Thursday, due to a risk of flooding.
Supply had been cut off to three homes 48 hours earlier to allow for meter-installation work to take place.
That didn’t go ahead (because of the demonstrators, Irish Water say) and on Tuesday evening the protest group called in local plumbers to bypass the piping installed by the contractors and reconnect supply.
A spokesperson for Irish Water said immediate remedial work was necessary by Thursday, as the whole road could have been flooded if the temporary plumbing job wasn’t fixed.
But there were accusations of political policing from the protesters as six gardaí stood behind work cordons to support the contractors carrying out that repair job.
The demonstrators (and there were about 25-30 present on Thursday) contend they weren’t just fixing the problem, but surreptitiously installing metering equipment too.
Claims
Irish Water have accused those staging the actions of engaging regularly in intimidatory behaviour.
In turn, the protesters contend that the contractors carrying out the work have breached a wide range of health and safety rules.
The semi-state body said in a statement to this website that “robust safety criteria” were always observed, and that regular audits took place to make sure that remained the case.
Meanwhile, gardaí are co-operating with a Health & Safety Authority investigation taking place into what a HSA spokesperson described as the “suspected workplace accident” involving the wheelchair-using DSN protester.
[John Lyons]
The contractors weren’t at the scene yesterday — and the pavement sites where they had been working, along a small number of houses on one side of the road, are now covered over temporarily with tarmac.
Based on their experience elsewhere, the protesters say they don’t expect to see the workers back any time soon.
What happens now?
An elderly resident from one of those houses who spoke to TheJournal.ie said that while he was “generally neutral” on the issue of water charges, on the balance of things, he’d rather have the meter installed than be hit with an “assessed charge” bill.
Questioned on the subject, John Lyons, a People Before Profit councillor for the area, who has also been leading the water demonstrations, said that in such cases he’d be happy to recommend the protesters stand aside.
Byrne, from DSN, also maintained that was the practice, saying “We’ve done it. If the resident comes out and wants it in, they can have the meter”.
A number of residents, however, said demonstrators were refusing to leave the pavement outside houses when asked.
“You must be joking,” the residents’ association committee member said at the suggestion, adding that one woman who made a request of the group this week “got a not-very-nice response”.
Lyons stressed the importance of dialogue with residents, and said he was keen for the issue to be handled democratically.
He also insisted that a number of locals had voiced their support for the ongoing action.
It’s not as if there’s no local involvement, of course there is.
(Youtube: TheJournal.ie)
Whatever victories the protesters claim in the next weeks and months — in all likelihood they can never be anything more than fleeting.
While Lyons spoke of a “fatalism” among people in the area, those who live on the road insisted they were “just being realistic”.
Indeed, even the local Sinn Féin councillor Mícheál Mac Donncha, who opposes the Government’s water charges plan, has said the actions can only ever be “token”.
In the meantime, the general consensus on Tonlegee Drive seems to be that the residents want their road back — and that while they may not like paying more taxes, they want their meters installed too.
Not without sympathy for their situation, Byrne conceded “it’s not nice for them to have groups of people congregating out on the road”.
“It’s good for them that we can finally pull out.”
He added:
But if the contractors come back, we’ll come back.
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
DSN seem like a lovely bunch, hi-jacking other people’s protests and leaping out in front of the camera at every opportunity.
Don’t forget threatening to lynch the meter installers
Good tactic… tie the gardai up keeping the peace. Means these shady characters and their associates can do their real business.
Don’t see Denis OBrien up there protesting, maybe €1000 a year will concentrate your anger
Peaceful protesters that will ‘literally lynch’ you, that’s a death threat in my book.
As for the number of Gardai, perhaps they were requested by the residents based on the number of shady characters involved in these protests?
The purpose of Irish Water is to create an attractive entity for future privatisation continuing the neo liberal economic agenda which is tearing the social fabric of the country apart. It cost €85 million for consultants to advise Irish Water on how to install water meters so that they can charge us again for the water supply we already pay for through general taxation. The remarkably remunerated consultants and Denis O Brien’s well equipped meter installation crews are paid from the National Pension Reserve Fund and the Property/Home tax which was allegedly destined to fund local services but that promise turned out to be another transparent FG & Labour lie.
Our water infrastructure will be sold to private operators (where Mr. O Brien is likely to feature again) within a decade to generate another lump sum to pay for the bank bailout which is also the reason that we are now being taxed simply to live in our own homes. From that point on, the free market privateers will charge the citizens handsomely for our water and will have that glorious opportunity because of the initial failure of the free market in the banking sector. It’s an ingenious neo liberal Catch 22 and we are the chumps.
It’s time for the people to stand up now and refuse to allow the ransacking of the country to continue. Boycott the Water charge. Can’t pay. Won’t pay.
The Anti Austerity Alliance gained 14 councillors in the recent local elections and are helping to build a boycott campaign against the water charges.
http://antiausterityalliance.ie/
How do the 14 councillors translate into national popular support?
@coddler Neo-liberalism is a blight on all our crops… we need to fight the elite and fight the wealthy and the wealth they create by harassing the working man. We also need to abolish property tax – because we live in those homes and we can’t be taxed on where we live… as trotsky said ‘fascism is nothing but capitalist reaction’ & ‘Insurrection is an art, and like all arts has its own laws’. #allfortheworkingman
We need to learn how to fly and travel through interstellar wormholes. All money should be destroyed and Ireland should be converted into a nature reserve with the abolition of property rights.
The amount of rubbish the lefties spew out of their tiny brains, I thought I should add a few more realistic objectives to the agenda.
Ben
That’s actually a threat to kill and if the person is charged would carry a heavy sentence upon conviction.
Hopefully the individual could be held of five days of questioning . At least it would keep the streets quiet from the thug.
I wonder how much is O’Brien paying the journal for this pro water meter/pro austerity infomercial?
Not everyone left in the country is a pensioner receiving a boomtime pension in south county Dublin.
There are still a few young Irish people left in the country, believe it or not.
sorry
Or north county dublin for that matter.
Inigo,
The water charges were defeated in Dublin in the 1990s through a campaign of mass resistance and 1 councillor, Joe Higgins.
I see AAA supporters spinning shiite again!
O’Brien concreting and copper fastening his place in the history books as
a greazy tax fugitive,
a corrupt (most likely criminal) rogue,
a buddy of corrupt/criminal politicians everywhere,
a hypocritical pseudo philanthropist,
a man who built his fortune solely on stroke politics.
Etc etc etc.
At least O’Leary pays his taxes in Ireland.
At least O’Leary gave us a service that enriches peoples lives.
At least O’Leary isn’t afraid to come out and talk to us.
Whilst O’Brien sneaks around pulling strokes in the shadows.
You’re very quiet for a Media Man Dennis?
What’s wrong Dennis?
Got something to hide Dennis?
“The richest man”
“in the country”
and Seanie Fitz’s BFF
Ehh??
What can we do for Dennis?
A mobile phone licence?
A utilities company?
An oil company maybe?
All below market value and off the open market.
Just the way you like it.
typo
“What can we do for you Dennis?”
You must be almost out of lefty cliches by now Coddler
We have already conquered flight and space travel is advancing rapidly.your concept of abolishing money is an interesting one though and ultimately would change all our capitalist directed lives for the better! Human poverty could be wiped out in the morning if the powers in charge wanted it so! There’s always money for war and all that!
Always baffling to see so many dislikes to a sensible and well informed comment on the journal. On the other hand I suppose its reflects perfectly on the current state of mind of Irish citizens- brainwashed and docile!
@ coddler o toole
JohnGahan anyone can hide behind a fake account and comment any old rubbish.
DSN Hijacked the protest.
DSN isn`t behind the protest. DSN activists are involved in it as they are residents in the estate. There is a difference. If it was a DSN protest you would have seen our Banner.
Hasn`t been seen at these protests in over 8 weeks
they maybe going about a bit wrong but at the end of the day they have to try water is a human right and it is a crime to ask people to pay for it for profit
Derek I’ve seen DSN on several occasions arriving in their numbers to crowd genuine protesters off their own protest and turn it into an unruly melee and harrassing the gardai. Much to the chagrin of the original protestors who have their message and sympathy with the public destroyed as the skinheads start trouble.
Absolute idiots, along with their brethren parties.
zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz Sure you have
What in your eyes is DSN John ?? some type of ‘renramob ‘ or concerned citizens ??
Water tax??? In Ireland, with all that rain!! Talking about screwing people over. I suppose you get what you vote for.
Stick a barrel out your garden and drink it then.
I don’t particularly agree with this new water tax, but to suggest water costs nothing because we get so much rain is disingenuous at best and stupid at worst.
It dose cost that’s why there is 5% tax on motor tax and 2% on vat. As things stand it costs €50 per house to pay for water as it is now so why are we going to pay ten times this amount ?
Yet if there is no rain they declare a drought and enforce hose bans so how is that stupid.
well SK it would appear to me that you are another in favour of double taxation . we already pay for water in general taxation!
A lot happens to the rain before it gets to your house as water running out of your taps. That’s why it’s stupid Christopher
Read my comment
Sk I would like to here why we will be charged ten time what water cost as it is now ? Yes certain money to be spent on fixing leaks so were back to €50 per house when the leaks are fixed ??
But Pete,,we have to pay millions for the amazing consultants and managers FG have in situ in Irish Water , their bonusses also , and thankfully the same nice FG people have a fully equipped gym organised so they can de stress ….that’s what we have to pay for
Kevin I am definitely not in favour of being taxed twice for the same thing, as I already said. However stating that water falls from the sky and so costs nothing bypasses the issue at hand. If you are going to get up in arms about something that is unjust it is important to know all the facts of the situation so you can come up with coherent and sensible arguments against it. Otherwise you run the risk of coming across as a bumbling idiot who no one takes seriously.
and charge you more for not using your allowance.
SK,, Water itself comes from nature. It is not made by Dennis O’Brian. It costs money filter it and to provide the water to our homes. We already pay for that service via general taxation. Now we are being told that the water itself belongs Irish Water and we are being forced to buy it from them. Did Irish Water make the water in some factory?? No, they are simply claiming ownership of the rain that falls from the sky. So now we will be charged twice. First for the service, and second for the water itself.
Collectively as a country we should unite together and refuse to pay the water tax but we won’t , and more taxes will be introduced and we will complain about them and so on
A country full of moronic sheep would never go against the grain
Can Denis O’Brien use any of his €300,000,000 write-down by ‘de banks’ (you & me ) to invest in some water canons ..
These meters are simply appliances to bill the working poor for the gambling debts of criminal or corrupt elites just like O’Brien.
Why didn’t they just simply take the money out of our bank accounts, instead of ruining our footpaths with their substandard “meters”?
Why is the journal not interviewing the children/grandchildren of these elderly people?
namely the hundreds of thousands who are scattered throughout the world as a direct result of political corruption.
These elderly people will be gone soon, It’s their offspring who will be paying this water-double tax and the imminent sewerage charges etc,
no doubt one day, out of their minuscule pensions.
Very one sided pro water meter/pro austerity propaganda article.
Are you sure that the journal doesn’t belong to O’Brien?
I wonder if the protestors in Greece that achieved the 100 billion write off, had to put up with this type of half arsed pathetic, pseudo civilized, pro government propaganda, media BS drivel??
Because Greece is far better off. Muppet.
€100 billion better off than they were, seemingly.
Where’s Eamoon Coughlan gone?? is he still involved in politics?? what’s he got to say about all of this??
He’s taken up marathon running ,,so need to worry about Eamo -as he’s in it for the long run !
These people will be dead soon. They wouldn’t care enough about the water charges to protest
@ men in black hoods. As bad as it is to say it, your dead right!
Looks to me like the journal has been bought by OBrien,
Or, perhaps, instead of publishing press releases as it the norm, the Journal actually went out and spoke to residents in the area to get a balanced view?
Just because you don’t like the residents reaction, it doesn’t mean that the journal has suddenly been bought by DO’B.
The Journal would have to pay him ,though ,, Have to agree with Martin on this one !
Its clear as day no reference to any residence or resident is displayed.. This stinks of PR for irish water.
Well done to the protestors – the working man is fighting back!
They are the elite
Smash the elite!
That you Constance?
A chara, we have to be an elite to smash an elite
I can’t understand the mentality of someone taking a job as a water meter installer.
It’s pure scab labour.
You’re an idiot.
It’s called being employed and feeding your family, or would you like their kids to starve. They are human being just like the rest of us
At least they are out working for a living unlike Byrne and Lyons! While I don’t agree with water meters these protests are just hijacked by dirtbags. The video of the protest the other day is embarrassing, the protesters trying and falling to get a reaction off the guards. Then shouting, what to we want? Whistleblowers, when do we want them now! Ffs, simpletons..
Maybe some people can’t feed there families with all these taxes
Their kids weren’t starving VO, and well you know it!
It’s just that type of hyperbole that gives these guys the excuse to go out and take their 30 pieces of silver for doing the troika’s dirty work.
Just watch how quickly these guys are thrown back onto the dole once Irish Water are finished with them.
@kentucky – seriously do you believe that BS or are you just a wind-up merchant? surely someone couldn’t be as monumentally thick as you?
Inigo, I’m happy to say I’m exactly as monumentally thick as you say I am!
Roll over and take it up the waxy seems to be the stance you’re going for.
I think those installers are Judases, and they’ll be shat back out once their employers are done with them. It’s scab labour.
I’d have no problem what so ever doing it. A job is a job.
Shame on you.
So it would be better for the tax payer if the installers stayed at home and claimed the social instead of working?
@Kentucky – you’re a funny man.
It has been our experience that most of the meter installers working in cork city and county are from outside Ireland , I have yet to meet anybody who did the course and is now working installing meters , but this is to be expected as it’s against EU regulation, as all works the state carries out must go our to tender , murphy contractors for example are an English company , and we all know about Dennis o briens siteserv . Again don’t be fooled , by the media who are failing in their duties to report on the truth behind Irish water .
I am self employed and I for one am glad that Mr lynch is protesting. How dare one consider his actions any less spirited.
It would be better if the BILLION euro being given to Denis O’Brien and Company to install these meters was used putting these lads to work fixing the water mains and leaking pipes, that are wasting 41% of the water supply.
When these lads do break a pipe, they laugh about it, and say its not their problem, its the councils.
70 and 80 year old people don’t want hassle or noise at any cost. The Government FG will probably fall over water charges if they do survive and join FF in 2016 then it will fall.Why cos people haven’t the money they don’t have it and they will see the government taking money out of their pocket and expect them to pay for water .So its pissing rain all the time your broke your paying a tax on water for a second time the water is undrinkable in alot of cases there’s a billing system your paranoid over because you don’t know if your paying for water that’s leaking into the ground your fearful a private company will take over and god knows the cost then and last but not least you sit there looking out the window as the rain comes down stressed broke demoralized tired and your wondering what did i do to deserve this im a good citizen just living my life tryna do my best but i cant because im just a consumer and that is all i am . Then you think hold on Bank bailout FF water tax FF water meters FG water price FG Austerity FG/FF and you look at your life your wife’s or husbands and think is this it is this the best where gona get from those clowns i mentioned above.Then you think Jesus our kids .. Not being a coward doesn’t mean your a thug if you stick up for yourself you are not a thug and if someone trys to tell you otherwise than they have the problem not you. So you either sacrifice everything you are and hold there at the altar of the gambling elite to pay for their habits or you tell them to piss off and find money where it actually is and where is that inside in their own pockets.
Rent a mob…they show up at every event going and take away from the real issues started by locals peacefully. They hard those types in north Mayo gas terminal too. Great that so many of them get time of work.
What are the real issues? Government driving people into the ground and into poverty isn’t a real issue?
Probably not just those types Steve, It was probably the same people.
My sister used to work for a civil engineering company back in the good old days. She told me that the people that she would see protesting at Tara were the same people that she saw in Mayo. You don’t have to look at a lot of protest videos on youtube to see the same faces popping up again and again. Mostly Eirigi and SWP members, protesting as a hobby.
Good luck with the protests. This article has a feel of a govt/Irish Water PRMedia campaign about it. No to Water Charges. Fight on.
Solidarity brother
Surprised your lot haven’t tried to hijack this protest yet tbh, it’s not like ye at all.
I have no problem at all with water meters measuring our usage,in actual fact i cant wait to see them installed, you might think this is insane but the reason is simple,we have our own large rainwater storage tank which we use for everthing from power washing to flushing to watering the plants,we will use tap water for human consumption which is only a fraction of the proposed 30000 litre free allocation per household,this way Irish water be saving money while our water bill will be zero,everyone’s a winner.
Careful there Richard that’s alot of sense talking… that won’t get you far in these parts.
Eh Irish has stated that rates will increase if your water usage is high and also if your usage is too low.
They will need money from you either way so saying your usage will be zero and there for you will have no bills just shows how little you know about what’s going to happen with Irish water.
Irish water will need money to “maintain the network” and for “upgrades” so if as you suggest everyone gets a rain water collection tank to save and get no bills how will Irish water get money to run it’s costs ?
Think the standing charge is gone and with never return ? You can be dam sure it is still there on the back burner waiting to beat you over head with.
Irish water has the right to up its rates/bill if it isn’t making money to cover cost regardless of how much or little or zero water you us…… You musta been asleep under a rock while info was dropped on us. You’ll get a bill even if you use zero water to your property end off.
You welcome another bill to your door ???. Ye your insane or stupid alright.
Irish water have a clause whereby if the national usage ie income is not a certain amount they can increase their prices. This has nothing to do with conservation… Unfortunately
A person with even limited intelligence knows the purpose of a water meter is to measure the amount of usage,then its reasonable to asume that if you use less water there will be a corresponding reduction in your water bill, a future standing charge is a seperate issue and no doubt would be challenged in the courts by people who have their own supply,but it has no bearing on the cost of water consumed that enters your house.
Irish water are not reasonable and depend on people of limited intelligence to be willing to pay twice for a service. This is not about preservation or allowing people to save money by lowering their usage, it’s about generating revenue, plain and simple. It’s a matter of someone with no regard for struggling families asking the question ‘How can we extort more money from people to pay off a debt that isn’t theirs’ and Irish Water is the answer.
What about the standing charge?
they will just go like the US gov. an make it illegal to collect rain water soon enough
A p;erson who have been following what is going on will also know that the government said that if a person uses very little water their water charge will go up and you will also pay a standing charge.
This article is up on the “Dublin Says No” page now…
Wait and see how much the comments section here will be spammed and the huge amount of stupidity and nonsense thats going to be posted by them…
“Dublin says No” – who gave them this right to speak for over a million people? Protest all they like, but don’t hijack other peoples homes or create a sense of fear or intimidate ordinary workers, who are simply doing their jobs. They protests are ridiculous, as they’ll be sent bills anyway.
Nazis said the same only following orders
Wait until the comments section here get spammed
Cop onto yourself as it seems your arse has been jammed
‘They’ll be sent bills anyway’ – Well that’s the problem, the government, nor any private company set up using taxpayer’s money to provide a service taxpayers already pay for have no right to bill anyone twice for the same service. Are you saying that it’s OK for them to behave like criminals (see definition of extortion) just because they have fancy titles in front of their names? What use is a government which refuses to act ethically and acts against the best interests of the people who elected them?
I wont be paying my bill. I don’t know anyone who plans to pay their bill. Maybe I just have a lot of well informed friends.
It is always easy to target people who are standing up for something that isn’t the status quo and rubbishing their character. I dont know any of these people and theoretically I dont have a problem paying for water. What I have a problem with is This Irish Water Quango– all the money they have already spent re. consultants, bonuses , big salaries, facilities for themselves ie gym etc. before even a drop was drunk. Also of course employing 2000 unnecessary staff from local authorities which will cost millions. Dosent exactly inspire confidence. Whose going to pay for all this –us. Wait till its fully privatised?. Also some of its undrinkable and the amount being lost in leakages is probably about 60per cent. Another fine mess politicians have got us into.
Unnecessary staff, they’ve been there for years, should they be sacked just because irish water took over?
Ah Daragh Gutter journalism at it`s finest “again”
Daragh how would you know about unruly behaviour on Tonlegee Drive considering you only got of your arse and learned how journalists work the day after everything happened?
Residents not members of organisations had been present on Tonlegee drive for 3 weeks and if there had been unruly behaviour or intimidation by anyone the gardai would have acted.
Now Irish water made claims of intimidation of the workers amazing really considering that the workers were sitting around with the protesters for the last 3 weeks till they were forced by the management of Irish water to install meters at all costs.
Now two of the meter installers are local lads and i even went to school with them and they would even vouch no intimidation took place.
But Daragh that is what gutter journalists do. They write in lovely sound bytes to make a NON STORY sound like a STORY. The same as your LYNCHED quote.
Which was said as After knocking a elderly Man from a wheelchair they would be literally lynched.
As nearly 9 weeks of protests have shown no Irish Water employees have been harmed yet two elderly residents have been hospitalised. One in a Wheelchair knocked down by a digger another had her arm fractured when she had a barrier thrown into her. Both matters are being dealt with by the Gardai. Then we had an IrishWater contractor drove a van into a protester.
We then had Irishwater rush in first thing in the morning and fit 1 meter to a row of 40 houses as they believed the house to be that of Myself. And it turns out it was the wrong house and the female resident was left feeing intimidated and harrassed. Story which appeared in the star by a journalist that got off his arse for the story.
I noticed you left the video on why i have been out on the streets for 8 weeks fighting water meters Daragh
As i said Daragh Gutter journalism. You spoke to about 4 residents. I could have brought you to residents that did support the protest. But hey you came for one story only and it is Hack journalists like yourself with your Stories that divide the people of this country.
Denis O`Brien will love you
The thug emerges from his cave.. Derek do you see yourself as the leader of the country after this glorious revolution you’re starting comes into fruition?
Emerges from his cave ? No Killjoy some of us work and as i work nights i sleep during the day. Also i am not the one hiding behind a fake account.
If you think i will do a better job than EDNA Kenny , Well i will give it a try if you want
Thug… thats a bit rich from a Faked twitter Denis o Brien account ??
Nah an uneducated single father who can’t string two sentences together without screaming or pushing someone isn’t exactly taoiseach material..
Have you ever been able to get your point across through reason, or was ‘whoever shouts loudest wins’ just the way you were raised?
Killjoy ,you’re getting extremely personal and nasty with your comments ..You’re usually much more classier than this.
Yeah you’re right I’m sorry.. Still despise Mr Byrne’s platform though
Despise away,Killjoy ,that’s your right !
Killjoy making it personal you have lost the argument. Come back to me when you can comment as yourself and not some fake account with an alter ego. #coward
It’s always better to have the support of the residents , we have this to be the case while stopping the installation of water meters in cork city , IW tend not to come back when the residents them selfs are out , but I support completely the efforts if Dublin says no , this is nothing to do with conversation and everything to do with water privatisation IW floats on the open markets when it stops receiving funding from us post 2016 , this is why the push to meter every home in Ireland is on , no meters no reason for private companies to enter the markets . Visit fliuch.org for more info , we are not alined to any political party , just ordinary citizens trying to stop another of our state assets been sold off .
Air tax is next
Good one Darren that’s funny – he he taxing the air is next.
To late that’s the carbon tax
I wish I was elderly, I wouldnt be worrying either about how to pay these increasing new bills over the next 10-15 years while still having the day to day costs of those with large mortgages, young families and declining benefits from your taxes.
Yeah the elderly have it all there own way.. life is a doddle for them. The working man is under the cosh – protests are hard work organisation, getting people there and back from the other side of town organising tea breaks the people need to rise up and help us #revolution
The Irish people are so subservient its cringefull. You should see the hell they raise here in Spain – and it works too. They get results. Ireland just rolls over. Pathetic.
so right david,,,,,when we sit back and do nothing,,,we’re sheep….when we stand up and be counted,,,people still moan,,,,damned if you do and damned if you dont!!!
Suit the cops better to stand with their fellow citizens instead od being state sponsored private security. Get the arses to ballyfermot where a child had been shot, thats a real job for gardai or on the beat in our cities and towns. Cops look like the military wing of bord uisce.
chris are you friends with kentuckywindage?
So the workers shouldn’t be given any protection when they are being threatened? I thought the Gardai were there to protect its citizens not join in with a mob. Should they just step aside during any protest?
@inego no. I’m not.
Protesting is well and good but will make f*ck all difference in the end.
People protest about what is good for the individual and not about what is good for the country
More spin .. water privitisation is NOT good for the country.. in any way !
It isn’t being privatised Rob. The legislation doesn’t allow for it. If it was to be proposed in the future then it would have to get through the Dail.
@Reg, FB intelligence believes a company with limited shares is titles as a PLC/Ltd on thestock market, we both know that’s not true, have you tried correcting fabrications on the book of bare faced lies? They give you title of paid troll/shill/govt employee/Black Op FB et al.
Stupidity is funny to watch at times, but very revealing of the brains that make such claims, they dont care about the truth, it doesnt fit well with the bigger plan/planners. Right now you’re a labour/FG supporter and probable work for the Crown. lol
Correct on all counts Manson!
IRISH WATER LIMITED. That’s it’s full title. It’s already a private company. It says so on the bottom of its official correspondence. The government can do what they like apparently. No one wants the water tax but they did it anyway. Same with property tax. This government think they own us and we need to get rid….. ASAP
Irish Water. Private Company Limited by Shares.- would be it’s title, follow the link below and decipher the semantics being sold on social media, you’re close, but no cigar yet ;) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Private_company_limited_by_shares
I agree. Look at Veolia’s track record.
Congrats! this is actually a journalistic article where the journalist went and researched the topic for themselves. Hope this continues.
He didnt… thats the funny thing lol … !!!!!
Those same old feckers who voted in FG and FF time and time again should be ashamed of themselves. Anyone who thinks these meters wont harm their health deserve the illness and should not be given free medical treatment for being so stupid. If they won’t treat smokers then they shouldn’t treat old people harmed by polluted water that they paid for. No one can force you to buy a meter against your will. And it will be privatised has to be under EU law.
Ohh Sweet Jesus Katie, water meters don’t harm your health. Even for the journal that’s below the acceptable level of stupidity… and you’ve used the word ‘stupid’ in you’re comment, FFS.
Before i leave Daragh
Why would you not talk to the resident whose elderly husband ( collapsed in their house, who came and sought my and other protesters assistance ?
These same residents/Protesters you seem intent on making out to be thugs.
These same residents who got the elderly individual of the ground and seated and then got an ambulance for him. Who then put the family onto the right people to get her help as she wasn`t getting any.
Daragh Stick to doiung your stories over the phone. Your first trip into the big wide world of journalism on the Doorsteps and you failed.
Then again there is not many Journalists in Ireland that have a lot of integrity, Think the only one that had was run off by the O`Brien Regime
Good to see the agents of the state protecting d.ob’s interests !
Also Daragh of the gutter press the workers are happy to sit down while people protest because they still get paid regardless.
Protesting over water charges, eejits.
An American friend visited last week and was shocked that we didn’t pay water charges. It will be a bit of a pinch when it first comes in but we’ll all get used to it in time.
The same american would be shocked that we paid for the Bailout of europe also, and now expected to fund the recovery.. Fat chance Mark.. fat chance !!
No mark, you and your american friend are eejits. I cant beleive you actually think that.
Mark, Did you not tell your American friend that we do pay for water but now their making us pay twice.
To be technical robbie, to further your point on the above eejit..
We pay 5% on road tax, 2% on Vat, we pay Universal social charge, We pay stamp duty, we pay household tax, we pay prsi .. where does it stop ?
The fact that you take advice on any form of social policey from an American says it all really.
My God, what a wonderful story. Smacks of everything but fairness. Daragh as you are possibly trying top build a career in media; I won’t point out your stories faults as the readership here tends to love a wee rant. It is your editor I would have series worries about. For yourself I would suggest you go and find a real story regarding Irish Water and trust me there are a few.
You should be ashamed of your self, poorly written, unidentifiable sources, Biased opinion. The time that individuals of your ilk can lie en masse is gone. The only people who support Irish Water are those who stand to profit from it. Elderly citizens are outraged at the way this country is being privitised to benefit a rich minority more do than any other generation
Another story on exactly why I don’t read the one sided journal. Worse than Rte
Democracy in Ireland, we are so proud to live in such an equal and democratic society.
Ah time to make me sandwiches for the march at 13.00 !
Free stuff..! Free stuff..! We want more free stuff..!
have your say