I thought it was about privatization? Or bonus culture, or was it because water is a “human right”?

Sure isn’t the current system grand, it’s not as if being able drink water from your tap is important or anything.. Lets go back to the old system that sees hundreds of thousands of households already ( and genuinely ) paying twice for water that’s unsafe to drink!

Cathal Healy, Why do we need to set up a new water company to borrow money to do the work thats required? Why cant the state just borrow the money and add it to our debt. We will be paying for it either way with the exception that the Irish water option will/is costing us 100′s of millions more!!!

I cant see how Irish Water are going to be more efficient than the council in supplying our water seeing as all the council staff are now working under Irish Water which is also being run by a former Dublin City Council manager!!

I don’t know if you’ve been following all the happenings with Irish Water but you wouldn’t have to dig too deep to uncover all the mishaps, dishonesty, lies, scaremongering and cronyism relating to Irish Water and our government. Its not a utility that i would choose to sign up to.It has not started out well and i have no confidence in Irish Water to manage and maintain our supply.

I am also losing confidence in our government to listen to the people of this country. They have treated us with contempt and disregard and have shown themselves to be completely disconnected from the issues affecting low and middle income earners in Ireland. It is obvious that they are making it up as they go along and every answer they come up with creates another question.

I have never seen such protests in Ireland in my lifetime, this is the straw that broke the camels back.

Because borrowing on the state account means 900 million in cuts?

We need the most expansive fiscal policy we can afford. If keeping Irish water off balance sheet allows us to do it then it’s a good thing.

I thought this march was for solidarity for the Irish people who were subjected to Human Rights abuses in County Mayo – It being Human Rights day and all ….

It’s a great day for Sinn Féin.

It is truly frightening just how feeble the arguments of many of the protesters are.

The crowd would have been much larger had the protest not been hijacked by SF!

It’s off balance sheet so that it can be done. We currently don’t have the capacity to borrow for this investment.

Regards will it do a better job? Could it do any worse. I understand that most people don’t really get how poor our infrastructure is, but to put it in perspective, there are people in Ireland who haven’t been able drink their tap water for years. YEARS Shane. Why? Because no politician has ever been elected to Dail on the promise of fixing this infrastructure, and no voter has ever chosen a politician because he was campaigning for same when others were promising tax cuts. It is the electorate who have allowed this infrastructure fall into ruin by never making it an election issue. Irish Water takes politicians and politics out of the equation, that is why I believe it will succeed in fixing the infrastructure.

It’s implementation has been sloppy and quite possibly corrupt. I disagree with how charging is structured (I favour a per person allowance system) and there have been a number of utter blunders by both politicians and Irish water with regard to charging for their service but if in ten years, boil notices are a thing of the past, then I will judge Irish Water to have been a success. If that isn’t the case then I will admit it has failed in every possible way. I have no allegiance to Irish Water, except the hope that it will mean everyone in this country has access to the resource of clean water.

If we abandon Irish Water and roll back to the old system, how many protests do you expect will take place about the inequity of Group Water Schemes (which has existed for decades!) and the fact that for large parts of the country, tap water is unsafe to drink? I’ll tell you. None. Just like last time. The usual agitators will move onto the next great cause of the “proletariat”. I have no time for that crowd because nobody has ever taken to the streets of Dublin, campaigning for the people of Roscommon to have their right to clean water respected.

me fein.

Search – here’s a really powerful argument for you – “It’s the Law!”
Article 9.4 – a legally binding European wide agreement – Enda is making Bertie look like a patriot and in so doing finishing the Fine Gael brand forever – a shame for all the good people in Fine Gael – but if you choose to follow a snake that is the price you pay …very impressed with Fergus O’Dowd – it seems Ming woke him up with the bottle of P…..

I might agree with you just a little if this was ever about clean water and conservation Cathal, it was all about screwing the people, only the extremely naive could argue to the contrary.

Anyway most of the problems in Roscommon have been sorted as far as I’m aware?, and for the most part our water infrastructure is pretty good and fairly extensive per head of population, and our water is for the most part very drinkable, any problems that needed attention could’ve been sorted 5 times over with the billion and some odd it was going to cost to put IW together and install over a million meters.

And just to let you know we as a country have access to 5 times more fresh water than your average European, hence our EU exemption from water charges that Bertie got put in place, the word conservation was just a red herring to justify the exorbitant original IW tariffs, and just to remind some again that IW had a clause built in that they would charge you more for using less, how anyone can still justify the creation and the future existence of this rip off venture is beyond me, particularly with any amount of austerity measures still in place?.

Has the government collapsed yet? Because some of the numpties on here earlier were prophesying that we’d be without a government come this afternoon. *puts face in palm*

Excellent and succinct analysis, Cathal. Got the crux of the issue.

The reality is that our water network is falling apart. The local councils and successive governments have failed. As you correctly stated, Irish governments don’t get voted in to fix infrastructure, unless they can cut a ribbon which is why we have one of the worst public transport systems in Europe, and a crumbling water network. In fact the capital budget was absolutely savaged so the government could avoid making tough spending decisions with current expenditure.

It is only with private investment that the water system can salvaged. Much like with broadband, it is the private sector racing ahead building cables while all the government had the imagination to do was throw money at a mobile phone network and pretend it’s broadband. I am not wholly happy with how Irish Water has been implemented – I regard it as a step in the right direction -, but ultimately I would like a tender for a private operator to run our water system, with the state retaining ultimate ownership. We don’t want another CIE on our hands!

@Dermot
“Search – here’s a really powerful argument for you – “It’s the Law!”
Article 9.4 ”

People keep mentioning this bloody Article 9.4 without actually understanding it, so let’s take a look at and see what it actually says:

“Member States shall not be in breach of this Directive if they decide in accordance with established practices not to apply the provisions of paragraph 1, second sentence, and for that purpose the relevant provisions of paragraph 2, for a given water-use activity, where this does not compromise the purposes and the achievement of the objectives of this Directive.”

Nowhere, NOWHERE, in that article does it state that Ireland is obliged *not* to bring in water charges. It says that a member state is exempt from bringing in domestic water charging – “the provisions” – provided it meets the conditions set by the directive – “does not compromise… the objectives of this Direction”. Let’s take a look at those conditions:

“1. Member States shall take account of the principle of recovery of the costs of water services, including environmental and resource costs, having regard to the economic analysis conducted according to Annex III, and in accordance in particular with the polluter pays principle.”

Member States shall ensure by 2010

- that water-pricing policies provide adequate incentives for users to use water resources efficiently, and thereby contribute to the environmental objectives of this Directive,”

Clearly, this is not the case. We have a leaky mess of a water system and a pricing structure that clearly does not incentivise efficient usage. In fact that’s not the only provision we’re in breach of, we’re also in breach of the provisions outlined in paragraph 2.

Anti-water charge keep quoting 9.4 as if it’s the smoking gun. In reality, it works completely against your cause and betrays a lack of insight into the legislation. If you’re going to reference legislation make sure you bother to read it and understand what it actually means before embarrassing yourself.

It’s about paying twice too as well as everything you mentioned and so much more!

Now you cant even protest in front of the dail
The dictator must be removed now from running this country

David wasting your time trying to explain that here it’s to sensible for the journal and the anti everything brigade

David the cost of setting up IW plus the cost of the consultants plus the 120m earmarked for IW lately plus the 400m that wasnt spent out of the 1.6b that was budgeted for the water system last yr adds up to close to 1 billion. If this money was spent upgrading the system instead of wasted on this quango we would be 1b closer to a functioning water system. All the arguments for IW were all bs. It wasnt about conservation, it wasnt even about upgrading the system because if it was we could have upgraded the system with what we spent on IW without borrowing any extra than we already are. And everywhere the imf sticks its nose in it recommends privatisation of public utilities, and you can be sure that it is the ultimate aim of this govt. I’ve said it before that before this govt or any future govt be allowed take more money off the taxpayer a completely independant audit should take place to see where are taxes are being wasted. This craic of making up charges to screw the public everytime the govt wastes our money has to stop.

35000 is a serious understatement I was there and easily 70000 while I was there and more arriving by the second it will be over a 100000 by the time it’s finished. Great turn out! Hell no we won’t pay!!!!

I’m in Leitrim right now. I invite you to drink what’s coming out of the tap.

I agree about conservation. A stronger charging structure would have been allowance based where it would be free to the customer up to a certain allowance. But as you point out, we don’t really need conservation because we have loads of water. Our shortages are being caused by leaks. That is where my hopes with Irish Water lie. Fix the leaks and provide clean water. It’d also be nice if conservation was encouraged through the charging structure but it isn’t as important.

Given Irish Water has already undertook several capital projects to upgrade our infrastructure, I think fixing the leaks and providing clean water is an important element of why Irish Water was created.

You fail to address the issue of Group Water Schemes. If we roll back, they will continue to exist and that IS paying twice.

well said Shane Carroll, was at the demo and query the 35k number either way a brilliant showing from all parts of the country
its really is a case of tick tock now as there is no denying people want a change not yet another apology from a bared faced liar

A fairly meagre turnout after all the drum beating.

Maybe now the likes of Coppinger, Murphy, SF and the rest of the Trotskyites will stop purporting to speak for the ‘people of Ireland’.

They do not speak for me. Nor do they even speak for a few of the Irish citizens who stayed at home in their droves.

well the government hasn’t crumbled, what now :D

From the pictures above it looks like the politicians are laughing all the way to the bank. A poor showing from SF when they have to import protesters from Northern Ireland. They will be the first to complain when Frazer and his mob arrive into Dublin next year……double standards!

Well said. I have been horrified about how Irish Water has been set up and do understand how watching the story unfold was like a big kick in the teeth…. but have to agree with a lot of what you are saying. Had a cup of tea in Roscommon, it was the foulest thing I have ever tasted, even if boiling makes it safe, it is undrinkable. There are people, lots of people, using this protest as a stepping stone to tackling bigger issues so hopefully that motivation will not wither and die after today but I’ve had so many frustrating, hit your head against a brick wall conversations with people who really are only concentrating on the water charges, who never get beyond the “we are paying for it already, free water is a human right” (kind of contradictory but that doesnt seem to matter) argument and genuinely think that everything should stay as it is and all will be fine. Modernisation? No answer. If this had been done at the height of the celtic tiger no one would have batted an eyelid. We cheerfully and proudly even allowed Tescos to rip us off then.

He has “med” his decision and the water charges must be “ped”

Mary Lou: a dedicated fighter for working class people (except of course when it comes to speaking out against sexual abusers in her own party)

Search – have you ever heard of the spirit of the Law – it was out in spades today on two legs – “The Ultimate Judge is the Man on the Street !”
Furthermore what about Fine Gael campaigning directly to allow Irish soldiers join the European Defence Army which is direct breach of the Irish Constitution – no referendum mentioned or sought – looks like the whole lot of them will loose their pensions for a breach of that and Article 9.3 of the Irish Constitution…
Every day that this government stays in power is a vote lost to Fine Gael and Labour – the people aren’t going anywhere and the young that are coming through every day to vote will not vote for this government ever again ….

Folks, there’s a huge number of comments on this article – a lot of which are populist shouting in search of green thumbs.

Cathal and Search Eagle above have both argued well about where they feel attention is needed and you owe it to yourself to have a read.

For me, having witnessed the incredible levels of cronyism and inefficiency which dominated localised water schemes for decades – I welcomed the arrival of IW. The implementation has been pretty dire to date, but the reasoning behind why it has been created and how it should lead to improved services are hugely important to our future.

If people want to complain about something, let it be the USC, which hammers paychecks far harder than IW ever could. Or is this an issue about broadening tax bases…

the fightback begins with Iirsh Water Ciaran and stays going until the Irish have their own land back from the E.U. and their prelates in Dail Eireann …

Glen Hansard’s “Falling Slowly” has nothing to do with public support for water protests.

So why then did they not set up IW within the current Public Service and relocate local authority employees while funneling most of the money wasted in setting up the money grabbing quango to sort out any problems within the current system?, and why waste zillions installing meters when we’ve more than enough water to go around?.

Simple really it was never about anything other than screwing more money out of an already desperate populace while filling the pockets of their cronies, and anyone who believes that IW was never going to be privatized are deluded beyond any help!.

Wholeduck I agree they do NOT speak for me

Just watched Brendan Ogle on RTE news, seriously is this the best that the right2water people can throw up? His interview was junior infants stuff, pure drivel with no substance.
This is the same man who did’t give a hoot about the public when he deprived thousands of workers railway travel to & from work when he was leader of the railway unions. He then later held the public to ransom when he was leader of the ESB unions! Today we pay nearly the highest rates for railway travel & electricity in Europe. He now wants to protect the public from water charges! This is Me Fein & it’s worst & just another example of some people jumping on the populist bandwagon! I’m against water charges but I would not protest today as the whole thing has been lost to people with different agendas .

Good turnout today, felt proud to be Irish! Shame a few yobs had to ruin wreck the buzz at the end. Jan 31st is too far away for another one. We should be aiming for a big one before the end of the year. Saturday the 27th is what I’m thinking if they don’t get the point from today.

@ Frederick incontinence. Pi#s off.

Hear hear! The people who have ‘red thumbed’ this particular comment are morons. You are absolutely correct that protests such as this should be directed to complain about something like the USC. And you are also completely correct to ask if the core of this is the broadening of the tax base.

search eagle
” It is truly frightening just how feeble the arguments of many of the protesters are.”….??
- the media interviewed dozens of protesters, but picked out only the silliest for transmission,
- they did the same the last time.
- shameless government propaganda machine.
- don’t be so gullible…

How can you support sum thing even you say is corrupt?if it’s wrong it’s wrong. So why support cronyism corruption? Makes no sense to me .i want to see good water infrastructure but irish water will not deliver that.its just a quango.

So irish water cronyism is different?

yes the infrastructure is failing apart but why is this only coming to light now? Was it not falling aprt in the 90′s?

The message to the government is we will not be unfairly taxed anymore especially when some of the money is going to the most hated quango in history and some of the money is going to the Troika. Can’t u see how wrong that is?. The protests will stop when the taxes are fair. No double tax, and every cent goes towards water..Ur as bad as the government. We know the problems, the message is we are not BAILING mistake laden governments out again and again. This may and probably will lead to water problems in the future and that is enormously sad, but it wont be the peoples fault. Therefore your anger is misplaced. The government are going to have to come up with new ways to fix this mess or they will be annihilated at the next election (lets be honest they will anyway).. Your problem is that u are tied into the system. For your own personal reasons u don’t want change. Therefore u focus on the lazy spongers and good knows what else as your argument. U must know from social media ur are in the minority. Why? because most honest hard working people want change. The old way of politics is not working, except for the elite..The honest man and woman has had enough of the lies, enough of the corruption. u keep focusing on the spongers. The rest of us will fight for a better Ireland and a better future for our children.

Ciaran if the USC is scrapped then all this goes away…Get them meters in lively! This is more than about water which is lost on Cathal and search Eagle. Irish water is he straw that broke the camels back..This is 6 years of lies, corruption and unjust taxation. As someone said above if Irish water was done right, the people were educated on why it as needed in the late 90′s no one would have batted a eyelid. Again another point lost on Cathal and search moron

It WAS larger than that ridiculous figure I’ve heard quoted, just the usual abacus problem with RTE & the Guards. It was HUGE – way over 60k. I’d say over 80k. Government can’t recover from this level of unpopularity. They’re incompetent, incapable, corrupt and worst of all, obnoxious sleeveens.

They’ve made the cardinal error of trying to rule by force and coercion, Irish people are riled up and being locked out of Kildare St, unable to protest at Govt Buildings? That will only make the backlash worse. Whether we get FG out now, or in a few months, they are out – GONE, forever.

The sneaky Garda lies & violence to the dispersing, smaller crowds, the bootboy antics to Residents protesting, it won’t be forgotten. This Irish Water protest has shown up the contempt and fascism in the Guards and how they’ve lost the run of themselves with FG in power.

Kenny OUT.

David, it does not make sense to continue borrowing as there are interest payments to be met, the arrangement is a bit like the parents running out of money because they can’t afford the payments so get their eighteen year old student son to get a credit card.

The borrowing is only part of the issue, look at the waste for example retired County Managers employed as consultants at €100,000 per year.

Waste, incompetence and jobs for the boys is why we don’t have a good water infrastructure, the model for Irish Water is an exact replacement for what went on in the past.

Hey Search – you didn’t read this – the very first thing in the Riverbasins directive – water is not a commercial asset but heritage …yowza !
It’s down at the bottom – I just put a little space in it for your benefit…

of 23 October 2000
establishing a framework for Community action in the field of water policy
THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL OF THE
EUROPEAN UNION,
Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European
Community, and in particular Article 175(1) thereof,
Having regard to the proposal from the Commission (1),
Having regard to the opinion of the Economic and Social
Committee (2),
Having regard to the opinion of the Committee of the
Regions (3),
Acting in accordance with the procedure laid down in Article
251 of the Treaty (4), and in the light of the joint text
approved by the Conciliation Committee on 18 July 2000,

Whereas:
(1) Water is not a commercial product like any other but,
rather, a heritage which must be protected, defended
and treated as such.

Hi Dermot, how does that contradict what the Article 9 legislation states? First of all it doesn’t say “commerical asset”, it says “is not a commercial product like any other”, and secondly it doesn’t contradict in any way the provisions in Article 9. Indeed, the justification for the pricing structure is to protect and defend the “heritage” under the “polluter pays” principle. Again, stop picking out random bits of legislation and sticking them in my face like you’ve found the smoking gun.

@Ivor
“yes the infrastructure is failing apart but why is this only coming to light now? Was it not falling aprt in the 90′s?”

Well I’ve been highlighting our crumbling infrastructure and lobbying successive governments for ages now. It’s only “coming to light now” if you haven’t been paying attention. Irish governments don’t care about infrastructure because it’s not a vote winner. The Irish electorate needs to make it a vote winner.

“and some of the money is going to the Troika. Can’t u see how wrong that is?.”

I don’t really see what’s “wrong” with it. We borrowed money from the IMF and other European countries, and now we’re paying it back. If we didn’t want to be encumbered with these payments, we should not have borrowed the money.

“The protests will stop when the taxes are fair. ”

What does “fair” mean?

“No double tax, and every cent goes towards water.”

Every cent of what? How is it a “double tax”? In case you’ve forgotten, we have a 6 billion euro hole in our finances.

“We know the problems, the message is we are not BAILING mistake laden governments out again and again. This may and probably will lead to water problems in the future and that is enormously sad, but it wont be the peoples fault.”

Maybe people should actually take some responsibility rather than always looking to blame Someone Else.

“The government are going to have to come up with new ways to fix this mess”

Can you suggest a way the government can “fix the mess” without levying new taxes, cutting any services or borrowing any money then?

“Your problem is that u are tied into the system. For your own personal reasons u don’t want change.”

Of all the assumptions you make about me, this is probably the only one that genuinely irritates me. I do want “change”, and I’m one of the few people on here who can actually articulate coherently what “change” actually means. To paraphrase myself, I would like to see Irish Water continue, so that it can leverage funds from the private sector, but eventually I would like to see the water supply tendered out to a private company on a fixed-term contract basis, with regular competitions. The state retains ownership of the resource, but the private sector operates it, instead of a semi-state stuffed with unions demanding bonuses.

“Therefore u focus on the lazy spongers and good knows what else as your argument.”

Where have I focussed on the “lazy spongers”? Have you actually read any of my posts?

“because most honest hard working people want change. The old way of politics is not working, except for the elite..The honest man and woman has had enough of the lies, enough of the corruption.”

What “change” though? People have always demanded “change”. What is this new way of politics that you actually want to see? Throughout this post you have attacked the government for not providing you what you want, fair enough, but then simultaneously have absolved yourself of the responsibility to articulate exactly what it is “we” need to see done.

“.This is 6 years of lies, corruption and unjust taxation.”

Explain how the government should’ve dealt with the 20 billion euro black hole in the finances when it was shut off from market access.

50k would be some amount of people midweek and during one of the coldest days I year!

Hate to say it but “without incident” won’t get any message across. I don’t support or condone any violence but 50,000 people turning up and expressing their right to peaceful protest won’t do anything, 1,000 people tearing up the city and setting the place on fire would get world headlines and send shockwaves through the government and the EU and, most importantly, the markets.

Like it or not Greece got a massive haircut on its debt (still a basket case country but the point stands) not because of the monthly general strikes and millions of people turning out but because massive violence and flames in a “civilized” European city caused havoc on the markets, drove bond yields throught the roof and got everyone talking of an EU/Euro collapse. This was from a couple of thousand anarchists causing bedlum.

I’m on the ground here. Massive influx of city centre office workers after 1pm has brought crowd to about 100k I reckon.

we came out of college at 12 and there was a group marching right past to the dail so we just joined in there !! handy timing :)

Action does

Marcus, you’re a f#@*ing tool.

Marcus O’Connor: I don’t agree with the whole burning our own city thing, but I DO believe there is a genuine question to be asked in relation to where we go when the powers that be continue to ignore us. If they treat our protests with ignorance and contempt, what do we do?

Agree Marcus, we have been supine for way too long

Sadly Marcus is right in one way, peaceful protest at leinster house means nothing, ofc violent protests mean nothing either. Want the Government to take notice..march out onto the m50 bridge at 7am and march into the port tunnel at the same time each weekday morning and watch the city come to a standstill, money talks and hitting big business with traffic disruptions will put pressure on the government to resolve the situation.

@ Stephen lane – 100K? Less of the propaganda, there must be at least 2 million out there.

Marcus you idiot if the ‘tearing up the city’ involved damaging any of your own property you’d probably be the very one cribbing that the state did nothing to protect you. Idiot. “Tearing up the City” involves damaging property of already hard up people we dont need small minded goons like you at our protests.

@ O’Reilly

Ehh cheers for the input sunshine. I said I don’t agree with violence, gave a reasoned opinion as to why peaceful protests unfortunately don’t have the same effect as violent ones and threw it out there in a public forum.

If that was reason enough to call me a “f#@*ing tool” I’d say you must be mighty craic at the family Christmas table when little Mary explains why she thinks donating to charity is better than buying her a Frozen Elsa doll but that unfortunately that isn’t likely to happen in our current society. (At least that’s a well thought out ad hominem attack, put in a bit of effort will you.)

@Sarah Sue

Hey, thanks for the new moniker! By the way I hear that reading is fun, maybe you could have a go at my post again there, it might be enlightening and indeed make you happy that there is one less idiot or “small minded goon” in the country than you thought there was a few minutes ago.

Blocking all of Dublin bus may have been a mistake..

Markus I got your point those abusing you never thought your post out before pouncing on you, violent protests do work whether you agree with them or not?.

I know how it feels to be bullied ,Marcus #yousaidnothingwrong

Go on strike!

More Garda spin… there are at least 500k people here today.

If peaceful protests like today don’t work then you wait for the election in two years time and you try to vote in a party that’s more appealing to you. Those that advocate violence to coerce the Govt. into changing their plans do absolutely nothing for your campaign.

That’s the number that I counted,too .

so what exactly have the protests achieved?

4.5 million not marching. Listen to the majority.

you’re right Paul – Fine Gael did not get an overall majority to implement water charges

If RTEs estimate was accurate, my goodness 35k is a lot of people to come out and make the effort to let the government know we’ve had enough. We’ve had previous governments and TDs resign for less. However, having being in attendance, the crowd was at least 80000, based on crowds in croke park at full capacity and a concert at Slane castle.

Prov. Shinnerbot – Enda’s very own Puppy FG Troll !!!!!

Well boo hoo Paul, lets bring all the infants and school children to the protest march and lets bring all the elderly and infirm to the protest march, and lets bring all the people who had to work today to the protest march and lets bring all the sick on their hospital beds to the protest march, what a powder puff retort, surely you can come up with something better than that?.

This government are extremely worried believe me, they’ve become more desperate by the day, plenty more of these protest marches on the way in the new year, but it seems their downright arrogance and stubbornness have blinded them to the reality that they’re fighting a losing battle, I can hazard a guess that even if they insist on the creation of IW at least half the households won’t pay which makes it impossible to maintain, they can see the trees but can’t see the forest beyond, sometimes you just have to cut your losses, but maybe they realise they’re most likely doomed at the next GE anyway that they might as well fight one more corner for their European puppet masters because they know their European masters are not going to advise these punch drunk idiots to throw in the towel!.

@thereal.thing – “So exactly what have the protests achieved?” For one, Massive back peddling by the government on PPS requirement, capped rates, a bunch of other ‘sweeteners’ to get us plebs to buy into the whole concept. I think that’s one direct achievement. But perhaps the greatest achievement is the people finally holding these overpaid muppets accountable and putting the their policies under proper public scrutiny.

@ Fintan: You’re pretty much spot on. I got estimates from two Gardai I know well, one on Merrion Square around 3pm, one on Nassau street on my way home, One said over 70-80,000 (@ 3pm) the other said over 75,000 (figure after most of the protestors had left.

Ha ha Jammin ! You & your buddy’s from the populist party were talking in the 100′s of thousands only the other day ( one even suggested if it was just 50000 or less it would be A defeat) I’m against water charges but the campaign has been hijacked by people from the SF populist party a lot of people did not bother coming out because of this. It’s all downhill from here for you….

Stop talking through your cake O ,Real Democrat ..

Paul Carney- What’s the population of Ireland?? You seem to think more people didn’t march than exist in this country!!

Population of Ireland 4.595 million

35k alone in merrion square and thats rte’s estimate

On the ground here in Dublin. There has been a 1pm surge of numbers. Crowd spilling back to Davenport and traffic suddenly cant access.

I’m still at the end on grafton St behind 1000′s of people

“No way we wont pay”
Good, so you’ll pay then?

I love the comment above about the 1pm surge in numbers. It’s people who work in town getting going for lunch and getting caught up in this nonsense.

In Dublin today, relatively small protest to be fair . It’s nearly all dubs and a few people taking a break from their shopping .

@ George grafton street is always busy in mid December

Howya richie rogers tony flynn