Right2Change & Right2Water

A movement for change?

Need more investment?

What’s the agenda?

Conservation? Transfer of wealth? Transfer the burden of paying for

water from employers to households?

Privatisation?

Those who believe the conservation argument say…

“The objective should be to provide every household with an adequate supply of water to meet all their domestic needs at no direct cost, while retaining the option of a tariff on non-essential use only as a conservation measure.”

Where’s the evidence?“International research shows that installing domestic water meters is unlikely to make any real difference to the amount of water used by families. For example in the UK, Germany, and the Netherlands it has been found that metering each home makes little difference to the amount of water used by families. SIPTU, 2011

No Water Meters

Metered Water Charges

• The UK average is 68,405 litres per person • Irish Water - 54,750 litres per person

Conservation?

Why the meters? Senior Executive Engineer for Water, Gerry Concannon,

estimated that the cost of unmetered water is currently about €350.00 p.a. per domestic unit. When all of the costs of metering involving installation, maintenance, administration and replacement are considered he pointed out that this cost almost doubles. (2011)

Based on the estimated €500 million of investment – we’ve spent more than double that now!

“The proposed expenditure on water metering would mean spending more than €1 billion which we don’t have on something we don’t need!” Engineers Ireland, 2011

What about commercial charges? Expected income 2015 (Alan Kelly, Dail April)

Commercial: €229m (45%) Domestic: €271m (55%) Total: €500m

+ General Taxation = public pay 78% of costs Households use 10% of the water (EU) Commercial companies are refusing to pay!

Collected in Dublin in 2013 – €26,650,000 Uncollected in Dublin in 2013 - €16,502,532

37% non-payment rate! Alan Farrell TD (FG) on Claire Byrne show

The rules setting up privatisation

Fiscal Compact Starts with the revenue raising figure (€601m) Off balance sheet = €350m from households UN resolution – 36,500 litres per person per year to stay alive. If everybody reduces usage to 36,500 litres – still have to raise

€350m. Every person uses 36,501 = €184 per litre. If only one household uses 36,501 = €350m

Every litre above allowance would be charged at extortionate rate – unemployed, underemployed, pensioners, disabled, etc.

The great transfer of wealth!

Privatisation agenda – from our government and the EU

TROIKA: Portugal, Greece & Ireland www.watermeetsmoney.com But why?

The Water Charges Model In 2013 in Britain, private water companies

made profits of: €2.81bn and paid €2.55bn to shareholders while paying only €101m in taxes.

Seven water companies paid no corporation tax at all and a report has shown that the industry is failing to help customers with “sky-high bills”.

Investments in big infrastructure projects are used to borrow and then write off taxes

Ireland is now the most unequal country in the European Union. More than ten percent of people suffer from food poverty; 1,500 children are living in emergency accommodation; Lone parents – who are the most deprived group in the State

with 63% already experiencing material deprivation  – are having their supports cut;

36% of children experience multiple deprivation; 40 families are becoming homeless every month; 300,000 have emigrated since the current government took

power.

State of the Nation

1 in 6 Irish born now living abroad; 200,000+ are still in search of a job; We have the second highest prevelance of low pay in the entire

OECD; We have the second highest prevelance of under-employment in

the EU15. We have record numbers of people (600) waiting on trolleys in our

underfunded public hospitals; and 470,000 people have nothing left to spend after all bills are paid

and 1.7 million say they have less than €100 to spend after all essential bills have been paid.

24% rise in people seeking charity.

State of the Nation 2

€405m tax cut to the top 17 percent of earners. Independent Media received a debt write-down of €138m €300m written off in two years for DOB – Siteserv, Topaz,

Beacon. Further Tax cuts in Budget 2016 widened the rich-poor

gap by €1,003 over two years Three-quarters of the pretax income gains in the last five

years have gone to those earning €70,000 and above (TASC)

Employers got a reduction in their corporation tax, employers’ PRSI, and capital gains tax was also reduced.

State of the Nation 3

Budget 2016

Budget 2016

Budget 2016

Establishment Parties1977 1981 1982 1982 1987 1989 1992 1997 2002 2007 2011 2015

Fianna Fail 50.6 45.3 47.3 45.2 44.1 44.1 39.1 39.3 41.541.56 17.5 20Fine Gael 30.5 36.5 37.3 42.2 27.1 29.3 24.5 27.9 22.527.32 36.1 30Labour Party 11.6 9.9 9.1 9.6 6.4 9.5 19.3 10.4 10.810.13 19.5 7Progressive Democrats 8.4 5.5 4.7 4.7 4 2.73Establishment Parties 92.7 91.7 93.7 97 86 88.4 87.6 82.3 78.881.74 73.1 57

1977 1981 1982 1982 1987 1989 1992 1997 2002 2007 2011 20150

20

40

60

80

100

120

Fianna FailFine GaelLabour PartyProgressive DemocratsEstablishment Parties

In favour of water charges!

Those against water charges!

October 11th

November 1st

December 10th

March 21st

August 29th