It’s not just about water and it’s not going to stop
THE political establishment are shaking their heads in bafflement at the intense level of protest over water charges despite major concessions announced exactly four months ago this week. I knew the Government was in trouble when we conducted one of our 10-minute text polls on the new regime that had just been announced on November 19 last year. Remember the Government dropped the original payment scheme, which had been approved by the Commission for Energy Regulation, under which a family of five – two adults and three students over 18 – would have had to pay at least €700 a year for water? Instead, it introduced the new ‘Alan Kelly’ maximum of €160. It was the most significant climbdown since the medical card fiasco.
But still our ten-minute text poll resulted in less than 40% saying they would pay the new reduced charges.
Last weekend’s opinion polls came up with exactly the same figure.
Having observed and listened to many of the protesters, I am now convinced that the discontent simply cannot be dismissed, as one minister tried to do recently, by portraying those who protest as an exasperated minority shouting louder than the rest of us.
These protests by large numbers of people are mainly confined to urban areas and I believe they are not just about water. They are being propelled by many grievances that have built up over years.
Just look at the number of those of pension age on the protests. Why so many older people?
They have paid heavy taxes all their working lives – remember, PAYE workers pay 90% of all income tax, deducted at source – and now they see the age at which they can claim their old age pension raised unilaterally.
Those who had a private pension
ONE of the most important works of art in recent years was the magnificent 1913 Lockout Tapestry, a creative collaboration, massive in concept and execution. You can now see it in the Dublin City Council Gilbert Library in Pearse street. It is open six days a week and this magnificent tapestry will remain on display until March 26. built up through their savings see the Government robbing a significant portion of it by a so-called ‘private pension levy’, a stealth tax that nets more than the property and water taxes combined.
People marching on the streets feel powerless at the wanton waste and abuse they are suffering. For their entire lives they paid all the taxes, tolls, levies, VAT and duties.
Take road tolls as another example. This year, €110m will be taken from family motorists and businesses on the M50 alone.
Not a day goes by when I don’t hear a complaint about the random injustice of the NCTs which costs twice as much in the Republic as in Northern Ireland and is seen as another cash cow for the State.
I suppose someone has to pay for the new carpets in Leinster House and the refurbishment of our embassies in Paris and Beijing.
All these grievances have come together to give us a situation where a hundred different people on a water protest can have a hundred different reasons for being there .
The water protests have not gone away – they won’t. They will only get bigger as long as the Government does not see the bigger picture.
FORGET about the Oscars tonight – so predictable, so ephemeral. The Irish poetry Oscars culminate this day fortnight as the public decides on the nation’s favourite poem. There are some great poems on the shortlist of a Poem For Ireland – including work by Eavan Boland (right), Paula Meehan, Paul Durcan and Seamus Heaney. I am championing the most difficult poem in the shortlist, A Disused Shed In County Wexford, by Derek Mahon. It’s not just a call to action, it’s a call to empathy. You can read all the poems in full on apoemforireland.rte.ie. And, of course, be sure to cast your vote.
WITH ‘Donegal Tuesday’ student drinking bouts now popping up all over the country, surely it’s time for student unions to reclaim rag week? These charitable and highly enjoyable events were abandoned by many student unions because they were too much hassle. But, hey, life is tough and rag weeks are part of student life. ‘Donegal Tuesday’ will simply become another euphemism for going on the lash unless the charity element can be recaptured.