Water War in Ireland
Over the last years Dublin faced the battle has raged between the councils, they were trying to implement a charge for the supply of water. This is the story of the campaign against the imposition of this Double Tax. When the domestic rates were abolished in 1977 following the general election an increases took place in income tax and Value Added Tax (VAT). The money made for these increase was to used fund the local authorities, who had previously relied on the domestic rates for their funding. Central Government was to pay a rate support grant to Local Authorities. This rate support grant increased until 1983 when the then Fine Gael and Labor Government decided to cut this grant and brought in legislation to allow the councils to levy services charges.
The peoples were effectively paying more taxes, less of this money made its way to local councils, so they were asked to pay more money in the guise of service charges 87% of all the tax paid in this country by the Pay as You Earn (PAYE) worker. This is massive amount of money especially when contrasted the fact that many multinationals companies are attracted to this country for exactly the opposite reasons, because they have to pay relatively small amount of tax.
In the 1980s resistance in Dublin led to the scraping of the first attempt to introduce a water tax in Dublin. Dublin divided into three new country Council areas. Fingal, South Dublin and Dun Laoghaire/Rathdown were created and they all had to strike a rate, which they would then be charged to each household for the water service. The existence of three new areas made it easier to administer the charges on each household.
According to Gregor Kerr is the Member of the Workers Solidarity Movements the householders and residents in Dublin should immediately prepare to resist these charges, if nobody pays they will be impossible to collect. Over the summer 1994 political opposition to these water charges was drummed up as many public meetings were held all over the country. Members of Militant Labor and the Workers Solidarity Movements and many nonaligned activists worked at leafleting information about the charge. The water charges had soon developed in to a service charge and now households were facing annual bills from their local counsel in excess of $100. The first charge was the thin end of the wedge and we went about getting that information into as many houses possible.
In Templeogue people had not been involved in campaigns and there was little history of community-based struggle. A sense of community appeared absent as each person looked after their own interests. But this area became more organized later on in the campaign and more people became involved as the council began to drag people to court. The hard work done a year earlier was rewarded as the campaign blossomed in the area.
The response was difference in other areas of the city. In Firehouse 70 peoples showed up for the initial meeting. The activists organized a survey as a good means to develop contacts and as a means to argue against the charges. Persistent work by activist helped raise the awareness of the issue. As people became aware of the campaign more and more became involved.
On September 24th a conferences was held and this gave rise to the Federation of Dublin Anti Water Charges Campaigns (WSM). Councilor Joe Higgins was elected Chairperson of the campaign. Gerge Kerr, a member of the WSM was elected Secretary of the campaign. Local meetings were held though out Dublin and they were generally well attended. A march took place in the city center and over 500 people protested at the implementation of this Double Taxation. Over the course of late 1994 early 1995 nearly every house in Fingal and South Dublin had received a leaflet from the campaign.
In December South Dublin, peoples weren’t paying the bill fast enough for their liking so they decided to up the ante and declared that if people didn’t pay their outstanding bills within a certain number of days cutoffs would commence. The council was now resorting to the tactics of the schoolyard bully by their use of threatening language in letters and ultimately wit the threat of cutting off peoples water supply.
All the activities raced into action, they were organized their own cars to patrol around that area, CB radios were installed in the cars so that we were in constant communication with each other as we monitored the movements of the men who would try to cut peoples water off. One house in Tallagaht was turned in to a virtual Head Quarters for the campaign. The telephone calls kept flooding in. communities learned to be vigilant of the Blue Dublin Water Works vans and were very wary when they came into the estates. The final result from the reports the campaign received was that 12 houses were disconnected and they were duly reconnected. The campaign had won the first battle and no house would be with out water for that Christmas.
The federation of Dublin Anti Water Charges Campaigns held a conference in May of 1996. The water charges were effectively dead in the water. They had become uncontrollable and largely uncollctable. Further demonstrations were held outside local council meetings where they tried to strike an estimate for the following year of how much they would seek from the people. A march was held in the city center, which attracted a good attendance. Protest phone calls bombarded the local counselors. Massive public meetings were held. 500 people attend such a meeting in Baldoyle in late November. Finally on December 19th 1996 the Minister for the Environment announced that the Water Charge was going to be replaced by a new system whereby the road tax collected in each area would be the source for local council funding.
The working class people of Dublin had organized rallied and won an important victory. Double taxation was over and this is due to the policy of mass resistance, organization and direct action. The political establishment had once again thought they could exploit the working class for yet more money. But this time they had their noses bloodied. The fight is not over but the victory is certainly ours. The direct action and mass resistance destroyed policies and finally the people of Ire land won the last fight.
In America also, the resisting process is continuing by the Amish community, but not as the winning side. These are some encouraging noises from the part of oppressed world. Privatization is not going well for water companies in the developing world. They are meeting growing opposition from civil society.
Over the last years Dublin faced the battle has raged between the councils, they were trying to implement a charge for the supply of water. This is the story of the campaign against the imposition of this Double Tax. When the domestic rates were abolished in 1977 following the general election an increases took place in income tax and Value Added Tax (VAT). The money made for these increase was to used fund the local authorities, who had previously relied on the domestic rates for their funding. Central Government was to pay a rate support grant to Local Authorities. This rate support grant increased until 1983 when the then Fine Gael and Labor Government decided to cut this grant and brought in legislation to allow the councils to levy services charges.
The peoples were effectively paying more taxes, less of this money made its way to local councils, so they were asked to pay more money in the guise of service charges 87% of all the tax paid in this country by the Pay as You Earn (PAYE) worker. This is massive amount of money especially when contrasted the fact that many multinationals companies are attracted to this country for exactly the opposite reasons, because they have to pay relatively small amount of tax.
In the 1980s resistance in Dublin led to the scraping of the first attempt to introduce a water tax in Dublin. Dublin divided into three new country Council areas. Fingal, South Dublin and Dun Laoghaire/Rathdown were created and they all had to strike a rate, which they would then be charged to each household for the water service. The existence of three new areas made it easier to administer the charges on each household.
According to Gregor Kerr is the Member of the Workers Solidarity Movements the householders and residents in Dublin should immediately prepare to resist these charges, if nobody pays they will be impossible to collect. Over the summer 1994 political opposition to these water charges was drummed up as many public meetings were held all over the country. Members of Militant Labor and the Workers Solidarity Movements and many nonaligned activists worked at leafleting information about the charge. The water charges had soon developed in to a service charge and now households were facing annual bills from their local counsel in excess of $100. The first charge was the thin end of the wedge and we went about getting that information into as many houses possible.
In Templeogue people had not been involved in campaigns and there was little history of community-based struggle. A sense of community appeared absent as each person looked after their own interests. But this area became more organized later on in the campaign and more people became involved as the council began to drag people to court. The hard work done a year earlier was rewarded as the campaign blossomed in the area.
The response was difference in other areas of the city. In Firehouse 70 peoples showed up for the initial meeting. The activists organized a survey as a good means to develop contacts and as a means to argue against the charges. Persistent work by activist helped raise the awareness of the issue. As people became aware of the campaign more and more became involved.
On September 24th a conferences was held and this gave rise to the Federation of Dublin Anti Water Charges Campaigns (WSM). Councilor Joe Higgins was elected Chairperson of the campaign. Gerge Kerr, a member of the WSM was elected Secretary of the campaign. Local meetings were held though out Dublin and they were generally well attended. A march took place in the city center and over 500 people protested at the implementation of this Double Taxation. Over the course of late 1994 early 1995 nearly every house in Fingal and South Dublin had received a leaflet from the campaign.
In December South Dublin, peoples weren’t paying the bill fast enough for their liking so they decided to up the ante and declared that if people didn’t pay their outstanding bills within a certain number of days cutoffs would commence. The council was now resorting to the tactics of the schoolyard bully by their use of threatening language in letters and ultimately wit the threat of cutting off peoples water supply.
All the activities raced into action, they were organized their own cars to patrol around that area, CB radios were installed in the cars so that we were in constant communication with each other as we monitored the movements of the men who would try to cut peoples water off. One house in Tallagaht was turned in to a virtual Head Quarters for the campaign. The telephone calls kept flooding in. communities learned to be vigilant of the Blue Dublin Water Works vans and were very wary when they came into the estates. The final result from the reports the campaign received was that 12 houses were disconnected and they were duly reconnected. The campaign had won the first battle and no house would be with out water for that Christmas.
The federation of Dublin Anti Water Charges Campaigns held a conference in May of 1996. The water charges were effectively dead in the water. They had become uncontrollable and largely uncollctable. Further demonstrations were held outside local council meetings where they tried to strike an estimate for the following year of how much they would seek from the people. A march was held in the city center, which attracted a good attendance. Protest phone calls bombarded the local counselors. Massive public meetings were held. 500 people attend such a meeting in Baldoyle in late November. Finally on December 19th 1996 the Minister for the Environment announced that the Water Charge was going to be replaced by a new system whereby the road tax collected in each area would be the source for local council funding.
The working class people of Dublin had organized rallied and won an important victory. Double taxation was over and this is due to the policy of mass resistance, organization and direct action. The political establishment had once again thought they could exploit the working class for yet more money. But this time they had their noses bloodied. The fight is not over but the victory is certainly ours. The direct action and mass resistance destroyed policies and finally the people of Ire land won the last fight.
In America also, the resisting process is continuing by the Amish community, but not as the winning side. These are some encouraging noises from the part of oppressed world. Privatization is not going well for water companies in the developing world. They are meeting growing opposition from civil society.
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