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 CHARGES ARE nothing new.
In many parts of the country they were the norm until 1997, when they were scrapped after Government faced mounting pressure on the issue.
Now they’re in a strikingly similar situation, with growing public opposition.
Let’s take a quick look back at what happened last time…
Domestic rates were abolished in 1977, replaced later by increases to VAT and Income Tax. In mid-1980s service charges were reintroduced, and attempts were made to start applying water charges again. This was abandoned in Dublin after it was met with some resistance, but went ahead in all other parts of the country.
The division of Dublin into four separate councils on 1 January was seized as another chance to introduce water charges, although not without teething problems.
Fingal and South Dublin both faced abolition by Fianna Fáil Minister Brendan Smith over a delay in submitting their budget estimates. This was centered on the potentially political damaging introduction of water or service charges. After buying time, agreement was reached in February, roughly £75 in Fingal and £80 in South Dublin.
In May, the campaign to contest the charges began in earnest. The Dublin Anti Water Charges Campaign (DAWCC) was up and running, with then Militant Labour councillor, now Socialist Party TD Joe Higgins at the helm. By the end of the summer, councils were reporting a slow rate of payment, but this was dismissed as normal and not the result of a boycott.
This campaign of opposition gathered steam, and attendance at their meetings began to increase. As councils geared up for their 1995 estimates it looked as though more people than previously thought were boycotting the charges.
Things also began to look shaky elsewhere. In Navan, the council threatened to publish the names of those who hadn’t paid their water charges in Stubbs Gazette.
The issue escalated in November as South Dublin moved to cut off the supplies of those who refused to pay, a move deplored by the Democratic Left and one that prompted the DAWCC to reportedly set up night patrols, to track workers attempting to cut off supplies.
It’s estimated that 900 people had their water supplies disconnected in 1994. There was a £100 re-connection fee.
There was also a change of Government at this time, from Fianna Fáil/Labour to Fine Gael/Labour/Democratic Left.
The year began with a Budget that, in the eyes of DAWCC, failed to address the issue. Some tax concessions were introduced, and were later expanded.
There was mounting unease among the Democratic Left at householders’ supplies being cut off. This led to rumblings of a plan to allow councils to pursue people who didn’t pay the charge through the courts, and this was eventually introduced in legislation.
Disconnection orders
The Bill required the council to notify the household with a clearly defined procedure. An order was required from the District Court before water was cut off. These disconnection orders could not be issued if a waiver on the charges had been agreed, or where it could be proved that the householder was unable to pay due to hardship.
This did nothing to qwuell unrest. DAWCC upped their campaign, and pledged to pay the legal costs of anyone taken to court.
Read: Homeowners told they could win cars and holidays if they paid their water charges >
The numbers involved seemed quite large – a reported 18,000 people in Dún Laoghaire were being issued with final notices at one stage.
By November, the court cases had begun, raising a range of legal issues, and featured sometimes quite large protests by anti-water charges demonstrators. One group of almost 50 cases were thrown out after court ruled that South Dublin had failed to prove the respondents were homeowners, The Irish Times reports, but the council swore to soldier on. The cases rapidly began to clog up the courts.
Hearings of court orders for disconnections were in full swing from mid-January, frequently accompanied by protests outside or inside the court, with cases popping up across the country. The first order was granted for a home in Lusk.
Many of the cases were delayed to due to legal argument over the technicalities of the legislation introduced.
In April, two surveys were published that would have lasting effects on the issue of payment for water services in Ireland – one recommended the installation of water meters, while another estimated that 40% of Dublin’s drinking water was leaking away.
April also gave the Government a big shock. In the Dublin West by-election, the anti-water charges candidate Higgins came strikingly close to taking a seat. Instead, Brian Lenihan Junior took the seat vacated by his late father, by just 370 votes.
Dublin South West saw a striking analogy to this last month, when Socialist Party TD Paul Murphy took a by-election seat.
This was an uncomfortable period for Government. It was facing into an election year with a major issue with water charges that seemingly wasn’t going to go away anytime soon. It was also taking flak over the Residential Property Tax
Towards the end of the year, Dún Laoghaire voted to retain the charge, while South Dublin postponed a vote.
It all came to a head 19 December, when Minister for the Enviroment Brendan Howlin announced that both water and sewage charges would be abolished from 1 January, and Residential Property Tax as well.
To replace water charges, at the time worth roughly £50 million per year, motor tax would be paid to directly to local authorities.
Refuse collect charges remained, and a rise in Stamp Duty was announced.
And that was that. 1997 came and the charges were dropped. Now, a decade later, the Government are in the grips of the same crisis.
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
Government has pulled the teeth of the councils since then, vesting all the power in unaccountable city and county managers. They might come to regret that.
Why do you think they did it?
Sligo would be the best example of that
FG/Labour get the message the people will not stand for water charges in any form and rightly so. One question I do have is simply this, the €100 allowence that we’re going to be given out of the social welfare budget, who is going to lose out as a result of this? Are they gonna cut services to handicapped kids or stop their medical cards? Maybe take the fuel allowance off the elderly? Actually I’ve more questions? Like how much are they gonna reduce motor tax by if the can successfully bring water charges? Because as stated in this piece we pay a proportion of our car tax to pay for water. Also wasn’t there mention of a raise in vat? And maybe income tax. How much are both of these taxes going to be reduced by?
No prizes for guessing correctly that none of these taxes that apparently now help pay for water will be reduced.
The reality is that FG want to reduce the % of Total taxes that their voters pay, a 2% cut in taxes on someone earning 100,000 + per year will leave that person 2,000 better off, after a 500 euro water tax bill – they will still be 1,500 euro better off, meanwhile Joe soap on the minimum wage will be 500 euro less well off – Transfer of wealth from the poor to the rich is what this is ! How can Labour support this ???
It also means those who use more pay more same as electricity or gas don’t hear you complaining about those. In addition where a your figures from as they haven’t been announced
No it doesn’t Sean, if this sham is allowed to continue the price of water will increase if we don’t use enough,
Let’s not try to mislead people under the banner of water conservation
Not entirely Seán.
While it is possible to **squander** water there are few example of how you can be **extravagant** with water.
For example, you might be very rich and have 8 toilets in your house. But if there’s only two of you you’re still only going to flush them as often as a couple who have only one between them.
On the other hand, you can be extravagant with electricity. You can have a bigger TV, lots of lights, large house to heat, etc.
So while electricity usage rises with wealth, everyone tends to use a similar amount of water, no matter your ability to pay.
Additionally, you have choice over electricity. If electric heating is too expensive, you can use gas, or wood, oil, or wear more clothes. If you can’t afford electricity, you can decide to watch less TV, go to bed when it gets dark, or just go without it entirely. It is entirely possible to live your life without electricity (or with a minimal). Believe it or not people did so for millions of years.
But no matter what, you need water. The UN say that a human being needs 50 litres of water per day in order to prepare meals and to have enough for personal hygiene. There is no other substitute. It’s water. Or you die of dehydration or disease.
Now, that’s no reason why you may not have to pay for water. But it is a good reason why water should not be compared to other commodities. Especially something a recent as electricity.
Water charges will also be scrapped again very soon. I’m paying 2/3 times for the same thing.
I like most reason minded people belive these charges are finished in their current for, the danger being that Fine Gael being the arrogant,stubborn, ignorant shower that they are will realise that it’s too late to save themselves and say “feck it” we won’t be elected either way so we may as well force them through, then we’re left with the problem of what to do when they are voted out..
Double taxation as these are still in place and will never be reduced
Broadcasting Tax is one to watch out for, also. The Government is refusing to address the rampant tax avoidance by corporations here. If a minimum of 12.5% corporation tax was charged, people wouldn’t be clobbered with indirect taxes.
Nice to see Joan Burton getting woman of the year ,
Suppose Enda Kenny will be man at the rear now??
They will divide and conquer with two tier charges. That’s worrying
Aras awaits the winner wink wink
Every water meter fitted is a vote against F.F. and F.G. and Labour -
Would fg ff or labour have the neck to go to people’s homes looking for votes roll onn elections
Jerry buttimer at my doorstep tonight and said we need to pay for water and when I mentioned about the 90′s and car tax and vat increase , he said, on my doorstep that was not true…ie I am a liar .Where is the paperwork about this so I can show to the next gombeen.
Also I mentioned how I wasn’t giving a labour a vote , and there was a huge silence , Jerry said nada ,FG are going to sell them down the swannee and blame them for all the unpopular taxes etc..Just like the green s and FF and the libdems in the UK Scapegoat r us
Nice article there NR.
It was beat b4 and will be beat again irish water is a scam ill never sign up to or pay into time for the government to scrap it or we the people will scrap the government roll on the 10th of December
10-12-14
Power to the people
Good man Larry
Consistent as always
Larry is rock solid – my favourite poster !
“Proinsias de Rossa of Democratic Left, Fine Gael Leader John Burton, and Dick Spring of Labour, who presided over the final years of water charges.”
Is this John Burton character a relative of Joan?
John Bruton not Burton. He’s a brother of Richard Bruton the current Minister for Jobs and he is infamous for attempting to put VAT on children’s shoes, an act that brought down the government of the day but that of course was when Labour had some pretence of representing the working class.
I’m well aware who John Bruton is, Martin. I’m asking about the John Burton mentioned in the article.
You really need to be clear when you’re being sarcastic, some of us would recognise the people in the photo without needing to read the caption.
(In my Michael Noonan voice!)
ahhh yeeas aren’t they the three cowboys that were in government when all these new dossier claims were going on – lucky them getting out and two of them working in the banking sector now – bruty and springy – great bankers , great bankers ……
NO WAY WE WONT PAY
Bertie – this is not a site that demands back taxes ….. l.o.l.
Speak for yourself, I will pay.
If you use below a certain amount of electricity you end up paying a higher rate per unit – I’m speaking from experience & am currently being penalised for conserving electricity via a range of different systems in my house…so much for polluter pays principle -would bet my life the same will occur with water charges in time to come. Conservation is not the real reason behind these charges…
To this say in it was paid for twice how was it paid for before motor tax was increased
It was paid for from household rates the forerunner of LPT for which you get F.A. services. FF used rates as a vote catcher in the 1977 GE and increased VAT and motor tax to take up the slack.
VAT was not increased in 1977. It went from 20% to 25% in 1980 and even higher a few years later.
VAT was increased to 35% during that period.
Great article. Referendum poll please journal. Do what the other media outlets are too biased to do
Fianna Fail lackey’s want a €1,000 a year ‘site value tax’ imposed on households in addition to a €400 water tax. Don’t vote these clowns back in during 2016. They haven’t committed to re-abolishing these stupid indirect taxes.
’1997 came and the charges were dropped. Now, a decade later, ….’
mmmmm did I just wake up in the wrong year????
We’re oft to blame and this is too much proved, that with devotion’s visage and pious action we do sugar o’er the devil himself
Use precise geolocation data. Actively scan device characteristics for identification. Store and/or access information on a device. Personalised advertising and content, advertising and content measurement, audience research and services development.
These cookies are necessary for the website to function and cannot be switched off in our systems. They are usually only set in response to actions made by you which amount to a request for services, such as setting your privacy preferences, logging in or filling in forms. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not then work.
These cookies may be set through our site by our advertising partners. They may be used by those companies to build a profile of your interests and show you relevant adverts on other sites. They do not store directly personal information, but are based on uniquely identifying your browser and internet device. If you do not allow these cookies, you will experience less targeted advertising.
These cookies enable the website to provide enhanced functionality and personalisation. They may be set by us or by third party providers whose services we have added to our pages. If you do not allow these cookies then these services may not function properly.
These cookies allow us to count visits and traffic sources so we can measure and improve the performance of our site. They help us to know which pages are the most and least popular and see how visitors move around the site. All information these cookies collect is aggregated and therefore anonymous. If you do not allow these cookies we will not be able to monitor our performance.
Cookies, device or similar online identifiers (e.g. login-based identifiers, randomly assigned identifiers, network based identifiers) together with other information (e.g. browser type and information, language, screen size, supported technologies etc.) can be stored or read on your device to recognise it each time it connects to an app or to a website, for one or several of the purposes presented here.
Advertising presented to you on this service can be based on limited data, such as the website or app you are using, your non-precise location, your device type or which content you are (or have been) interacting with (for example, to limit the number of times an ad is presented to you).
Information about your activity on this service (such as forms you submit, content you look at) can be stored and combined with other information about you (for example, information from your previous activity on this service and other websites or apps) or similar users. This is then used to build or improve a profile about you (that might include possible interests and personal aspects). Your profile can be used (also later) to present advertising that appears more relevant based on your possible interests by this and other entities.
Advertising presented to you on this service can be based on your advertising profiles, which can reflect your activity on this service or other websites or apps (like the forms you submit, content you look at), possible interests and personal aspects.
Information about your activity on this service (for instance, forms you submit, non-advertising content you look at) can be stored and combined with other information about you (such as your previous activity on this service or other websites or apps) or similar users. This is then used to build or improve a profile about you (which might for example include possible interests and personal aspects). Your profile can be used (also later) to present content that appears more relevant based on your possible interests, such as by adapting the order in which content is shown to you, so that it is even easier for you to find content that matches your interests.
Content presented to you on this service can be based on your content personalisation profiles, which can reflect your activity on this or other services (for instance, the forms you submit, content you look at), possible interests and personal aspects. This can for example be used to adapt the order in which content is shown to you, so that it is even easier for you to find (non-advertising) content that matches your interests.
Information regarding which advertising is presented to you and how you interact with it can be used to determine how well an advert has worked for you or other users and whether the goals of the advertising were reached. For instance, whether you saw an ad, whether you clicked on it, whether it led you to buy a product or visit a website, etc. This is very helpful to understand the relevance of advertising campaigns.
Information regarding which content is presented to you and how you interact with it can be used to determine whether the (non-advertising) content e.g. reached its intended audience and matched your interests. For instance, whether you read an article, watch a video, listen to a podcast or look at a product description, how long you spent on this service and the web pages you visit etc. This is very helpful to understand the relevance of (non-advertising) content that is shown to you.
Reports can be generated based on the combination of data sets (like user profiles, statistics, market research, analytics data) regarding your interactions and those of other users with advertising or (non-advertising) content to identify common characteristics (for instance, to determine which target audiences are more receptive to an ad campaign or to certain contents).
Information about your activity on this service, such as your interaction with ads or content, can be very helpful to improve products and services and to build new products and services based on user interactions, the type of audience, etc. This specific purpose does not include the development or improvement of user profiles and identifiers.
Content presented to you on this service can be based on limited data, such as the website or app you are using, your non-precise location, your device type, or which content you are (or have been) interacting with (for example, to limit the number of times a video or an article is presented to you).
With your acceptance, your precise location (within a radius of less than 500 metres) may be used in support of the purposes explained in this notice.
With your acceptance, certain characteristics specific to your device might be requested and used to distinguish it from other devices (such as the installed fonts or plugins, the resolution of your screen) in support of the purposes explained in this notice.
Your data can be used to monitor for and prevent unusual and possibly fraudulent activity (for example, regarding advertising, ad clicks by bots), and ensure systems and processes work properly and securely. It can also be used to correct any problems you, the publisher or the advertiser may encounter in the delivery of content and ads and in your interaction with them.
Certain information (like an IP address or device capabilities) is used to ensure the technical compatibility of the content or advertising, and to facilitate the transmission of the content or ad to your device.
Information about your activity on this service may be matched and combined with other information relating to you and originating from various sources (for instance your activity on a separate online service, your use of a loyalty card in-store, or your answers to a survey), in support of the purposes explained in this notice.
In support of the purposes explained in this notice, your device might be considered as likely linked to other devices that belong to you or your household (for instance because you are logged in to the same service on both your phone and your computer, or because you may use the same Internet connection on both devices).
Your device might be distinguished from other devices based on information it automatically sends when accessing the Internet (for instance, the IP address of your Internet connection or the type of browser you are using) in support of the purposes exposed in this notice.
The choices you make regarding the purposes and entities listed in this notice are saved and made available to those entities in the form of digital signals (such as a string of characters). This is necessary in order to enable both this service and those entities to respect such choices.
have your say