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THE FIRST DELIVERY of a vaccine against Covid-19 has arrived into the country today, with vaccinations to begin from next week.
Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly confirmed that the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine has arrived into Ireland ahead of the upcoming vaccinations.
He also heralded the arrival of the vaccines as a “positive step forward” after a challenging year.
“The Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine Comirnaty was rigorously tested by the European Medicines Agency and was found to be safe and effective,” he said.
“It is a massive achievement by the scientific and medical communities. This vaccine will save many lives.”
Donnelly earlier tweeted a picture of himself beside the country’s first delivery of vaccines.
“When is a fridge worth photographing? When it’s just had Ireland’s first #Covid vaccines put in it. The first doses have just arrived and many of them are sitting in that very, very cold fridge,” Donnelly wrote on Twitter.
“We’ll begin vaccinating in four days. #holdfirm,” he said.
Taoiseach Micheál Martin said the arrival of the vaccines made today “a day of great hope”.
Meanwhile, HSE Chief Executive Paul Reid said the delivery of the vaccine would provide another method – along with continued social distancing and hygiene measures – of tackling the Covid-19 pandemic.
“This delivery is a welcome sight at what is a very difficult time in our efforts to curb the devastating impact of Covid-19,” he said.
“It represents hope for us all as we move into a New Year, but we must remember, we all still have our part to play.”
The Cabinet was told earlier this week that around 10,000 doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine would be delivered to Ireland after Christmas following the European Commission’s formal authorisation of the vaccine.
The HSE has confirmed to TheJournal.ie that 9,750 vaccines were scheduled to arrive today.
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Tens of thousands more doses are expected to arrive into the country from early January.
Chair of the vaccine taskforce Brian MacCraith said that the arrival marked a “new dawn of hope” in the fight against Covid-19.
“After a truly horrible year, the arrival of vaccines today represent a bright new dawn of hope. Vaccination is a gateway of opportunity for Irish people to protect themselves against this awful virus,” MacCraith said.
“The initial delivery (equal across all EU 27) is now in place at -71 deg C.”
The vaccine, which needs to be kept at -70 degrees Celsius, requires specialised storage infrastructure.
Nine ultra-low temperature fridges were delivered to Ireland at the start of the month and stored in Citywest in anticipation of the vaccine.
Earlier today, chief executive of the HSE Paul Reid announced that he was accepting a delivery of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine today for the HSE.
“An early morning start to a momentous day. Heading off to take receipt of the first delivery of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine for the HSE,” Reid said.
“There will be better days ahead for sure. For now, #StaySafe,” he said.
Residents of long-term care facilities over the age of 65 and frontline healthcare workers in direct contact with patients are first in line to be vaccinated.
Under the plan for the rollout of the vaccine, people aged 85 and older and those aged 70 and older will be next to receive the vaccine, followed by other healthcare workers and people aged between 65 and 69.
Residents of nursing homes should receive their two doses of the vaccine by “some time in February”, according to Donnelly.
Taoiseach Micheál Martin has said that the country is “mobilising an unprecedented national effort” to rollout the vaccine.
“Vaccinating millions of people will take time, and in the meantime, we have to be very vigilant,” Martin said.
“We cannot go any faster than we are allowed by the supply of the vaccines and the dosing schedule required for them to be effective.”
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@PTTJ123: If most of the ‘customers’ refusing to pay is a ‘solid sstart’(tm), I wonder what canned phrase he’ll use for Eurostat not falling for their accountancy trick.
(Incidentally, this is the corrupt, unelected, european project we’re talking about here. Would anyone really be surprissed if somehow Irish water mirabulously passes the test??)
It’s been a unmitigated disaster.. Irish water has been borrowing money from banks at a far higher rate than the government would been . heads should roll.
Ouch! Looks like the games up on the fast one that the govenment tried to play.
Guess eurostat saw the ‘conservation grant’ for what it was, a bribe and state intervention in financing a private company. Long may the negative headlines about this disaster continue, right up to the election.
We are close to a significant victory here. Hundreds of thousands of ordinary working class people have stood firm against the continued looting of the country for the benefit of the capitalist and political elite.
Irish Water has been established as another mechanism through which the citizens are to be fleeced to pay for the systemic failure of speculative financial capitalism in 2008.
This is why our Troika ‘partners’ made it a condition of the bailout (stitch up) agreed with the FF/Green government in 2010. The IMF & ECB could not care less about maintaining and upgrading our water network and conservation which is the fairytale justification for the charges peddled endlessly by establishment. We could be all drinking slurry as far as Mario Draghi is concerned. What Mario is interested in though is the €1.2 billion + that the Irish citizens currently pay annually to run the water and sewerage systems.
If the water charges are successfully enforced, then this €1.2 billion annual revenue stream can instead be diverted to meet the repayments on Ireland’s ‘bailout’ loans (plus interest) used to directly cover private and illegitimate banking debt. In this way the EU & IMF gets to have the Eurozone banking system stabilized at the expense of the Irish people and we get to pay for the privilege through Water charges, Home tax, USC, vicious health, education and social support cutbacks, Pension levy and the extra 3 years added to our working lives etc etc etc.
It’s an ingenious neoliberal Catch 22 and we are the intended chumps. It’s time for the people to stand up now and refuse to allow the ransacking of the country to continue. Boycott the Water charge. Can’t pay. Won’t pay. https://www.facebook.com/WeWontPayTheWaterCharges
On the up side, Irish teachers get to find out what it’s like to chance their arm handing in shoddy homework…..scarlet for ‘em.
The question now is….will they be sent to the back of the class or made to sit at the front and pay attention?
Heads role little one; are you kidding? but bonuses will be paid. Now those assuming that IW will fail are going on the assumption that Eurostat will be made of of honest folk, how likely is that?
Noonan on the 1oc news: “irish water customers have received their bills and KNOW WHAT THEY HAVE TO PAY FOR THE NEXT COUPLE OF YEARS”. There’s the admission right there that prices will increase, most likely via a private owner if all had gone according to plan for this most incompetent of governments. And that’s saying a lot given the corrupt and incompetent governments we’ve had in the past.
Maireben, fado, fado our Pension Reserve Fund stood at in excess of Twenty One Billion Euro. I believe that there is point four of a billion left. Under this magnificent stewardship we should all be on the pig’s back in no time at all.
What about his cronies getting jobs there, all we could hear from them during the last general election was shite about them putting a stop to it,lying fu**kers
Good ring to that ” Irish waters Irish wake “.
Apparently the state broadcaster Rte has already announced the crowd numbers for the August protest,their saying 3-4 thousand but could go up or down depending on their parties polling figures.
Fantastic news though.!
Eurostat are obviously a totally independent and impartial outfit, and have not succumbed to the political need of this government to cook the books, in order to facilitate a re-election budget.
No Sean…..the setup was so bad even they couldn’t get the square peg in the round hole without looking like chumps themselves……..I’d say they were completely stunned by the sheer incompetence of our pocket stuffing Ministers.
Got that one wrong. The Minister will challenge the Eurostat findings they got it wrong he knows these things. It’s time to stop this monster & take it back to the drawing board. It’s an embarrassing mess.
Thus is why ive asked for a recall of the Seanad. Itish Water had borrowed €850 million and has leave to borrow €2 Billion & now its all on the state. This craxy machine mudt stop & fast.
Absolute and utter lies being peddelled by peddler – sorry Coddler:
“In this way the EU & IMF gets to have the Eurozone banking system stabilized at the expense of the Irish people and we get to pay for the privilege through Water charges, Home tax, USC, vicious health, education and social support cutbacks, Pension levy and the extra 3 years added to our working lives etc etc etc.”
Again and again you have been provided with links to prove that you are simply wrong.
Again and again you have been told that:
“Ireland’s debt in 2006 stood at €43.7 billion and, at 25.1 per cent of gross domestic product or economic output, was then the second-lowest in the euro zone. By the end of this year, the debt is forecast to reach a little above €203 billion or 111 per cent of GDP. Large as that sum is, it is down from a level of €215.6 billion or 123.3 per cent of GDP at the end of 2013.”
“But as recovery gathers pace, the State is still saddled with the legacy of the crash in the form of an enormous national debt.
The figures are very big indeed. They point to a rise of some €160 billion in the totality of Ireland’s general government debt since 2006, the year before the banking credit crunch which heralded the global crisis. More than €64 billion went into the banks, and only a small portion has been clawed back.
The bulk of increased borrowing, however, was taken on to meet the costs of running the State day by day.”
Do you see that sentence above? That is why we have to pay Water charges, Home tax, USC, vicious health, education and social support cutbacks, Pension levy and work an 3 years .
Not for bank debt – but because we spend more than we take in, so we have to borrow and introduce the charges – you are beyond naive to think that even if IW fails – that so will the debt and somehow we will conjure up this money for the services that we want.
Get real. Seriously, people – get real.
It doesn’t matter who takes the reign – it really doesn’t matter.
It will all end up the same and that is that we will have to pay for what we want and what we need – not what we think we deserve.
You’re welcome Kerry – and you will be paying more taxes in the future for your water and for everything else – which bit of that do YOU not understand.
What do you do when your ESB rates increase Kerry – refuse to pay them? What about your car insurance? What about your SKY? What about petrol Kerry – when it was rising did you fill your car and do a runner? Of course not – your taxes Kerry are not enough, they maintain but are not enough to provide fresh, clean drinkable water to your home, investment is needed, we need to borrow that money and you will pay – directly or not, you will pay.
So don’t come here moaning in a year or two when it dawns on you that this is not a victory – it is a loss, a substantial loss, the real outcome will take a while to permeate through to you – but it will!.
politically it would be better if ye got the f*** out and don’t come back. that goes for most of the opposition too just looking to get a piece of the pie. Vote Social Democrats and Independants if ye want any sort of change here. SF as a minority yes but a majority is too much of a risk. No more of this s***.
There would not be a problem if the ”Bums” had paid…..The ”BUMS” don’t want to pay for anything, ye are a disgrace, ye won’t pay so that the water infrastructure will be there for future generations.
BUMS AND LEECHING OFF OTHERS, YE MUST BE SO PROUD.
@patlyndo, when petrol cost rises, I’d get a more fuel efficient car, when ESB cost rises, I try and conserve energy. Likewise, if our debt has risen, we get a govt that doesn’t throw money down the frickin toilet at lissadel house and tax us more to pay their inflated pensions.
Raising taxes and privatising everything isn’t the only option obviously
Patlyndo,
Enough of your macro economic drivel please. It’s I that have had to explain many many times to you and your fellow travelers that:
Our total government debt was about €47 billion in 2007, the second lowest in the Eurozone standing at around 25% of GDP and we were running a budget surplus in the 5 previous years.
We have moved from this position to owing the monstrous sum of €215 billion in 2013. The main reason for this is that the true cost of the bank bailout is over €110 billion and most of it has been added to the national debt.
The National Pension Reserve Fund and general exchequer fund were raided for €17.5 billion and transferred to the European Financial Stability Facility & Mechanism (EFSF&M) funds. The EU then generously allowed us to borrow €67.5 billion from the EFSF&M which we are paying back with interest. €64 billion of this has been used directly cover private and illegitimate banking debt. In this way the EU gets to have the Eurozone banking system stabilized at the expense of the Irish people and we get to pay for the privilege via the interest we pay on the debt. This does not include the €32 billion also borrowed that we have pumped into NAMA to indirectly prop up the banks by taking the bad commercial property loans off their books. Adding the 3 figures together (17.5 + 64 +32) gives a total cost of around €113 billion and counting for the bank bailout so far. Most of this money has been borrowed and the interest payments make up a major component of our current annual budget deficits.
It should be also be understood that most countries run a budget deficit most of the time and it makes perfect macro economic sense to do so. A sovereign currency issuing state (e.g. U.K) can sustain ANY size of deficit or debt once it is denominated in the domestic currency. The “debt” and any interest is paid via simple keystrokes at the central bank.
It’s only the Eurozone countries that are required to borrow their own currency in the market at an interest rate determined by the market. Fiat currency issuing nations like the U.S and U.K do not need to obtain dollars and sterling from the bond markets to finance a budget deficit or indeed to cover private banking debt in the domestic currency. When they do choose to issue government bonds the primary objective is to implement monetary policy (e.g. drive their chosen base interest rate to target) not as a necessity to raise revenue. In addition, when those countries do ‘borrow’ in the market, they effectively decide what the yield/interest will be unlike the Eurozone nations subject to the tender mercy of the speculators.
In contrast, the Euro single currency was deliberately designed to allow speculative financial capitalism to profit massively from member state sovereign debt as monetary policy is now in the hands of the ECB who impose destructive neoliberal economics on the citizens with the assistance of member state puppet governments including our own FG/Labour quislings and FF before them.
The Austerity program imposed by the Troika and 2 successive governments achieved exactly what it was designed to do. That is to slash the social support structures like Health and Education and drive down the wages, working conditions and living standards of ordinary people to pay for the economic crisis caused by the capitalist elite. Privatization of our national infrastructure like the water network will follow soon as per the old IMF playbook if we allow it to happen.
To justify austerity, they peddle the economic fairy tale that nations need to ‘balance the books’. This is nonsense in a macro economic context. Most countries run a budget deficit most of the time and always have done. Vicious austerity is applied to the people of Ireland, Spain, Portugal and Greece while in contrast under the QE programs, the ECB has created €1.4 trillion in reserves by pressing keys on its shiny computer in Frankfurt and made it available at extremely low interest rates to the parasite banks whose greed and stupidity triggered the economic crisis in the first place. Austerity is only for the little people you see.
“Our total government debt was about €47 billion in 2007, the second lowest in the Eurozone standing at around 25% of GDP and we were running a budget surplus in the 5 previous years.
See here:”
It was a structural deficit:
“Structural and cyclical deficits are two components of deficit spending. These terms are especially applied to public sector spending which contributes to the budget balance of the overall economy of a country. Deficit spending, or simply deficit, is defined as over-spending: the amount by which spending exceeds revenue over a particular period of time. The total budget deficit, or headline deficit, is equal to the sum of the structural deficit and the cyclical deficit (or surplus/es).”
We were overspending, what part of that do you not get?
“We have moved from this position to owing the monstrous sum of €215 billion in 2013. The main reason for this is that the true cost of the bank bailout is over €110 billion and most of it has been added to the national debt.”
Half true. We went from 47 billion deficit to 215 billion – we borrowed 65 billion for the banks, the rest of the debt is due to borrowing to meet the overspend.
“This does not include the €32 billion also borrowed that we have pumped into NAMA to indirectly prop up the banks by taking the bad commercial property loans off their books. ”
SImply untrue – Here is the real facts from NAMAWINELAKE:
“NAMA initially funded itself by issuing €32bn of bonds to buy €74bn of loans from the banks. In addition, NAMA received investment of €51m from three “independent” institutions and it received a loan of €49m from the Department of Finance which it has since repaid. In NAMA’s case, its initial funding from all sources was €32.1bn.”
NAMA received a loan of 49 million, the 32 billion you keep bleating about was not borrowed, it was issued in NAMA bonds to the banks in return for the toxic loans. IT HAS REPAID THAT LOAN.
So the true cost of the bailout is 65 billion – you rightfully say our debt increased ot 215 billion – the biggest chunk of that was money borrowed to service the deficit and continue borrowing to pay PS pay, pensions, SW etc…..
You are peddelling lie after lie:
“Adding the 3 figures together (17.5 + 64 +32) gives a total cost of around €113 billion and counting for the bank bailout so far. ”
LIE. We didn’t borrow 17.5 billon, we didn’t borrow 32 billion, we borrowed 64 billion.
“Most of this money has been borrowed and the interest payments make up a major component of our current annual budget deficits”
LIE.
Most of the money was borrowed to cover the deficit and for day to day spending.
The interest payments for the bailout are about a 1/4 of the annual interest costs of the National Debt – we pay approximately 8 billion to service the national debt and approximately 2 billion is for the bailout.
Ross, would you get the more fuel efficient car for nothing? ESB: You can conserve all you want – but you still pay for what you use.
Our debt has risen due to massive overspending in the years prior to the bust, you know, from all the SW increases, the pension increases, the PS pay increases – you know – throwing money at the problems instead of resolving them.
Thanks though, for a civil contribution. Rare in these parts I can tell you.
What exactly do you think the NAMA bonds are? Do you imagine that NAMA suddenly magicked €32 billion into existence?
The NAMA bonds are government guaranteed securities. It was Euro denominated money borrowed by an agency of the state which needs to be repaid with interest by the Irish State and so is ultimately paid from the resources of the Irish people.
Now to the most important part which I’ll try to explain to you again in very simple terms.
A sovereign currency issuing state (e.g. Britain) cannot “overspend” in a currency it creates at will. The deficit whether structural or otherwise is irrelevant. The national debt and interest due is paid via keystrokes at the central bank. You need to try and grasp this. Britain has NO need to borrow its own currency from ANYWHERE. It issues that currency at will. Britain can sustain ANY size of national debt or deficit once it is denominated in sterling.
The only reason that Ireland’s budget deficit matters is because we are trapped in a currency union where we have ceded control of our money. If Ireland had a sovereign floating currency then our budget deficit would be of NO concern. We could never run short of Punts for day to day spending to run the health, education etc systems for example or to upgrade our water network.
The bank bailout would not have broken the nation as it would have been paid in a currency we create at will. This is how Britain funded its bank bailout which was bigger than Irelands (proportional to GDP) and yet did not bankrupt the U.K. Did you ever stop and think about this?
A sovereign Ireland could always afford to pay its state pension and social welfare bill. It would never have to take medical cards from terminally ill people in order to “balance the books”. It would never be required to balance those books. Ireland could of course still face real resource constraints e.g. energy or skills shortages but would never face a financial shortfall. Is any of this sinking in Pat?
Now Pat, you need to be asking yourself which class benefits from Ireland’s membership of the Euro monetary straitjacket. I’ll give you a clue. It’s not the working class.
“Patsy,
You truly are a deluded twit.
What exactly do you think the NAMA bonds are? Do you imagine that NAMA suddenly magicked €32 billion into existence?
The NAMA bonds are government guaranteed securities. It was Euro denominated money borrowed by an agency of the state which needs to be repaid with interest by the Irish State and so is ultimately paid from the resources of the Irish people.”
No, no, no, no, no and no again, you said that NAMA “borrowed” 32 billion, ,let me explain it to you again.
NAMA issued 32 billion worth of bonds for 74 billion worth of loans from the 5 banks. They were Goverment backed bonds.
As NAMA sells the loan books, it repays the bonds. By 2016, 80% of the bonds will be repaid .
The writedown from the loan books totalling 74 billion and the NAMA was a loss taken by the borrowers.
“The only reason that Ireland’s budget deficit matters is because we are trapped in a currency union where we have ceded control of our money. If Ireland had a sovereign floating currency then our budget deficit would be of NO concern. We could never run short of Punts for day to day spending to run the health, education etc systems for example or to upgrade our water network.”
So Irelands deficit only matters because we are trapped in a union. You are embarrassing yourself now.
“Debt crises are nothing new in Ireland. Indeed, one could go back as far as Jacobite state’s bankruptcy in 1689, when James II’s supporters had to melt down cannon to produce more brass coins.[1]
This article however, will confine itself to the borrowing and debt history of the Irish state, south of the border since 1922.
The polity known initially as the Irish Free State and since 1948 as the Republic of Ireland has had three major episodes of debt crisis since its foundation. The first came right at the start in 1923-24, when the costs of, and damage done by the Civil War very nearly crippled the new state at birth.
The second was a long drawn out period of rising debt and huge public borrowing that lasted roughly from the late 1970s until the mid 1990s. The deficit here was caused in part by the world oil crises, but to a much greater extent by very large increases in public spending designed to trigger economic growth.
When the economy did not grow as expected, public finances were left with a massive gap between what they spent and what they took in in taxes. Repaying this debt and even the interest on repayments placed a huge burden on Irish taxpayer throughout the 1980s and had a lot to do with poor economic performance and massive emigration of that period.”
Sooooooo, in the 80′s we had a massive deficit – caused by?
What happened? Massive taxes on the people, real hardship, interest rates on mortgages – in double digits.
The deficit always matters, always.
“The bank bailout would not have broken the nation as it would have been paid in a currency we create at will. This is how Britain funded its bank bailout which was bigger than Irelands (proportional to GDP) and yet did not bankrupt the U.K. Did you ever stop and think about this?”
The bank bailout did not break this nation, the massive overspending, the bloated PS, the super dooper Social Welfare payments and the add ons and the more than generous PS pensions that cost the employee of the state ZERO – broke this nation.
” A sovereign Ireland could always afford to pay its state pension and social welfare bill. It would never have to take medical cards from terminally ill people in order to “balance the books”. It would never be required to balance those books. Ireland could of course still face real resource constraints e.g. energy or skills shortages but would never face a financial shortfall. Is any of this sinking in Pat?”
No Coddler – Soverign Ireland BORROWED to pay the State Pension and the sw bill.
I get what you’re saying, but they now have the legislation in place to deduct bills and fines from PAYE workers wages and social welfare recipients allowance. Will they now enforce it?
John true they have the legislation in place but first the debt has to exceed €500 and requires a court appearance to enforce it.Should make for interesting reading when people are brought to court to enforce a contract they did not sign up to.
Thanks Norman, i didnt know about the €500 and the court appearance. Are they capable of doing anything right- they couldn’t even get the legislation right for themselves! What a joke
As Norman says, Irish Water can’t take people to court until a minimum of €500 is outstanding which won’t occur until 2017 at the earliest. It also takes 2 court appearances to apply an attachment order to earnings, pensions etc. The judicial system would grind to a halt if they attempted to process the hundreds of thousands of people boycotting the latest banker tax.
All of the agencies of the state depend on the compliance of the vast majority of the population in order to function The bottom line is that the courts are not a viable option for the government to deal with mass civil disobedience. In this case the Irish people have refused permission for the ransacking of the country to continue under the guise of water charges.
IW has failed, the pay off retirement home for unelectable Eu lackeys has disappeared. All of a sudden there is a massive increase in borrowing when it’s obvious that the taxpayer will be paying. This is a smash and grab folks, we are being systematically robbed. There is no “black hole/bottomless pit”, there is only peoples bank accounts. All this money goes somewhere, remember that.
true Norman and it’s two court cases per person, and if you’re on the dole they can only take a tiny amount, another total waste of money, get the judiciary involved and all the associated costs to retrieve a couple of Euro. this is the govt at its finest, any wonder the country ended up in such a mess with people like that in charge.
it may have been leaked/released that there’s 46% compliance, that’s just another spin on the true figure, which is way lower. can someone in this bloody government just tell the truth, just once?
The actual figure is much closer to 37%. Before the leaking of the figures, Irish Water were constantly using the figure of 1.7 million liable households in their public statements. The leaked figures used 1.5 million households as the benchmark for calculations.
This means that they were either exaggerating the number of households liable for the payment and 46% is the real number or they’re understating the liable households now to massage the figures. I know which one my money is on.
Water services were paid for by some people contributing to general taxation. Now they’re paid for by charges. The “pay twice” argument is disingenuous nonsense.
Yet again it’s the law abiding citizen, who pays taxes and charges, that gets screwed over by the entitlement freeloader types.
You must be a fine gael politician with all the insults your throwing at the honest hard working people who refused to pay for this over inflated quango!
Poor diarmuid. Your posts today stink of desperation. None of them, conveniently enough, relating to the fact that the governments accounting trick has failed, theiir funding model has failed, and the money they’re borrowing to fund irish water is at a higher rate, and higher cost to the taxpayer, as a result of their incompetence.
The funding model has failed because of concessions made to the water protest movement in the cost of charges and in the effectiveness of enforcement measures.
The concessions were too much of a burden on the Irish State to pass the Eurostat test.
The Irish State, the Irish taxpayer, will ultimately suffer as a result.
The looney left set fire to a building, then now blame others for not putting it out.
You may have missed the answer to the motor tax, VAT, general taxation point.
Do you like hurting the financial position of the Irish State? Or you just going to deflect…
I’m sure you’ll be the first person to complain when future governments have less room for tax cuts and welfare increases as a result of the anarchist self-entitled water protest movement.
Diarmuid what did you think of the original IW tariffs the same ones that will be back on the table in a few years time?.
Did you ever stop to think that the original set up of IW was designed as a profit making machine to eventually be privatised?, only a party lapdog suffering from a severe bout of tunnel vision could or would say otherwise.
You’re dead right Diarmuid it is all about freeloading, government cronies freeloading off the already cash strapped populace.
Diarmuid, there’d be no bleedin problem if the govt would just admit IW was a mistake to begin with, disband the quango and return water provision to the councils.
But no, the govt keeps plowing onward with this disaster wasting more and more money. The costs you complain about are the govt fault, not those who refuse to support IW
..only sine people have motors? really? over 2 million vehicles actually – at rip off exorbitant rated of tax at that. A truck at €3400, and a car at €750 – 1800 a go. Do you want me to send you a calculator as well?
Hard to keep up with the Looney Left “pay twice” arguments.
Thought it was motor tax that paid for water? “Some” people, not all, have motors.
You “pay twice” with VAT, road tolls, TV licences… you going to boycott them too?
If you don’t accept a Government’s right to re-allocate/increase taxes in one area, then I guess you won’t accept when a Government reduces tax in another area.
Still asking questions but refusing to answer them.
You made an obviously false statement. But I can’t really blame you. When defending irish water and this government, dishonesty is the only tool you have left in the box.
“You want future Irish governments to have less money for tax cuts and spending increases?”
Interesting approach, funny how p!ssing away hundreds of millions of euros on this failed quango didn’t seem to bother you that much. Your finger of blame is pointing in the wrong direction Diarmuid.
I haven’t always had a car I didn’t always have my own house however I always have a job and as such always paid my tax. I always had to buy clothes and food so the increased vat went to the water infrastructure, when I could afford one I bought a small car so then I started paying motor tax, of which some is going to the water infrastructure, finally after much saving I bought a house and I pay property tax of which some is directed to the water infrastructure. So by the process of elimination Fine Gael/labour and Irish water can kiss my peachy ass if they think they will be getting anymore money for their buddies from me. The afore mentioned quango and quango creators are finished. So say we all.
@Diarmuid Sometime you can be a right pain in the ass …… I did not pay because Irish Water, from the onset, was set up a a Quango. If it had been a STATE company it would have been different. No, dont start the argument that its a SEMI state because most of our SEMI states have been sold, or are in the process of, being sold to date. The Top Management at Irish Water were incompetent from the get go. They gave themselves huge salaries and bonuses but yet had only failures from their past and cronyism to get these jobs. The Alan Kellys and Phil Hogans of this country are just bullies. I dont bow down to bullies. I wont assist corruption in any form. Read my article http://www.fieldreview.wordpress.com. Please wake up.
Diarmuid…explain this to me
How does Edna get a 100k lump sum and a teachers pension of 30k a year on top of his gold plated politicians pension for working 4 years as a teacher?
Diarmuid I really don’t know why you are getting so worked up. Michael Noonan just said “there’s no crisis, there’ll be a surplus of between 1.2 and 1.5 billion” to buy the next election.
“Instead, we have the Looney Left Spongers willing to damage the financial position of Ireland and hurt the law-abiding citizens who have paid.”
Go away with your faux outrage, if you really cared about the citizens of this country you wouldn’t be on here cheerleading a government that cares little for it’s citizens. You’re full of crap
Diarmuid but it’s nice of you to keep proving that point ;-)
Something else you might like to think about here is the decades of mismanagement by Fianna Fail,Fine Gael and Traitor Party governments. All way before the complete mismanagement of Irish Water. So once again I must ask the question Diarmuid, how many Left Wing governments have we had in the last 20 years?
Don’t make me laugh, you care nothing for the people of this country, your a Me Feiner, who supports a Me Feiner party with a Me Feiner ideology. You’re fooling nobody.
Have to laugh at the hypocrisy of the average reich-winger.
Apparently, Greeks deserve for their kids to be eating out of bins because an accountancy trick was pulled to get them into the Euro, but FG/Labour pulling accountancy tricks, which will actually cost the taxpayer more in higher interest rates, is an absolutely fantastic idea.
diarmuid, if you genuinely think that people not bothering to engage with your pathetic little strawmen is somehow you making a point that can’t be countered, then you are becoming as delusional as your beloved leader.
Irish gdp is 0.2% because of Irish water. If the money wasted on Irish water was invested in local authority to fix their own water systems we wouldn’t be in this mess, we couldn’t have spent so much money tax payers money and we wouldn’t be having this conversation. Poorly conceived poorly executed and poorly delivered.
Incompetent government monkey man squandering all the taxpayers money when people are being made homeless and dieing in our hospitals due to wasting money on quango Irish Water have you no shame monkey man cheer leading for these shower of incompetents.
Paul, I criticised FG heavily above. I regularly criticise FG. Some people do not support parties like cults. You should try it.
Robert, failing Eurostat test keeps €600million of debt on the State books EVERY year until it is resolved. Less money for tax cuts and spending increases EVERY year. At least you tried to counter my point above and didn’t engage in pathetic abuse.
I’ll counter your point.
You lay the blame of the Eurostat test failure at the feet of the water charge protestors but you are incorrect.
The govt saw the opposition to IW from the very start and still kept going. Even when it was clear a majority of Irish citizens rejected the quango of IW, they still forced it. Even when it was apparent that IW might fail the Eurostat test they still forced it. They never admitted that they might be better off to listen to the Irish people and disband IW and set up the utility in a fairer, cost effective way that the average Irish citizen would agree with.
So the fault of the Eurostat failure lies at the feet of the pig headed govt who couldn’t listen to the Irish people.
The implementation of IW has been very unprofessional but the concept is correct. The inadequate water system in Ireland is costing over €1.4b per year and over 60% of this is lost through leakage.
If the left gets its way and IW is disbanded then how will the restoration of the water system be achieved?
Do we give it back to the councils who caused the problem?
Do we leave it as it is and build more reservoirs?
Do we allow over 60% of the treated water to be wasted through leakage?
Do we allow people to waste water washing cars and gardens not to pay for the additional water they are using?
@ powerabbey: Had you been on here calling for the billion wasted setting up a quango and tooling it up for privatisation, to instead being used to fix the leaks, your post might have some credibility.
As usual no answers just more questions. I know that SF/IRA are not policy driven but surely you can answer valid questions? It would be great of the €1bn could be used to stop water leaks but to build a system to do this WILL cost money.
diarmuid, can you do us a favour. Can you keep posting the phrase ‘looney left’ as much as you can. There seems to be a direct correlation between you doing so and the rate irish water is sinking.
Like you’re not snapping right now. The tone of your posts say it all diarmuid. Can’t blame you, just another day running cover for the failures of this sham of a government.
FC you haven’t countered one of my arguments all day.
Maybe you’re just coming to terms with the fact that your beloved water protest movement will result is fewer tax cuts and spending increases for years to come. A bit ironic. A bit tragic.
Diarmuid, you need to read the article, there were 5 reasons given for failure, none of them mentioned low payment rates, the design of IW is what failed. Take a look at those reasons again, makes it very clear that the only way this entity will pass if it is fully privatised, which will mean bills of 800 to 1200 per year per household.
“I get the distinct impression that Diarmuid is not happy, how long before himself, search eagle or that grogan idiot try to blame sf?”
Oh no, this is a mess entirely of FG and Labour’s own creation. Instead of simply introducing water charges, they brought in a half-hearted, union-infested scheme and ballsed it up. The bright side is that they will now have no room to buy off people in the next budget with unnecessary social welfare increases and puffed up wages for the protected sectors.
Power abbey, I see it’s 60% leakage now, when all this site started it was only 40% leakage and that was only announced as a leverage tactic, tell me, what has Irish water been doing to cause this extra 20% water loss, are they deliberately still giving misleading quotes or just damaging the infrastructure?
@les i will answer for the monkey it is none, the loony right has brought us to our knees not a few people that has not paid iw, as michael said there is no crisis and michael and co are happy with iw. but they will use it against the people at the next budget we are being run by nasty petty dictators.
Good lad FC, you’re only good at disingenuous populist nonsense. Not capable of debate.
A simple concept for the rest of you… more people pay, the Eurostat test gets passed, we have more money for tax cuts and spending increases.
The Looney Left’s voters are ironically like slack-jawed US Republican voters… they buy into a silly ideology and end up voting against their own interests.
Micheal Noonan has been quoted in the examiner “the failure of the euro stat test is deeply worrying and controversial for the government” the end is nigh
Diarmuid I take it you can’t read properly. Because if you could you would have read the reasons it failed. Not just because people won’t pay. But hey you think that if you want. Those that can read can see it was a number of reason’s. The government made a mess of this and that’s the facts.
Poor dermo. Spends the entire day blaming the ‘loony left’ for the eurostat fail only for the official report to be released and non payment is actually only a footnote in one of 5 points why it didn’t pass the test.
@diarmuid, just so you can sleep better the failure was put down to the fact gov control of appointees to the board, gov control of pricing models, non performing revenue streams
now 2 out of 3 should give you your answer
just don’t go ape!
“Poor dermo. Spends the entire day blaming the ‘loony left’ for the eurostat fail only for the official report to be released and non payment is actually only a footnote in one of 5 points why it didn’t pass the test.”
I dont know why you’re whinging so much Diarmuid. This is all going to plan for the government. They will come back from their summer break and inform us that in light of Eurostat concerns, and the level of debts IW has incurred, they have no choice but to sell IW off. And of course to blame will be the “looney left”.
ha ha diarmuid why not just wait for Kenny to back from his “holidays” and one of his sidekicks (ahem, fionnan Sheehan), sidekicks (ahem, ahem, hugh) will leak an explanation for you
your logo should be a dog as your barking up the wrong tree, oh wait, maybe your right and just out of your tree!
Looks like Phil hogan won’t be turning out “water down to a trickle”.Him and Kelly have proven to be two politicians with huge contempt for the Irish public.
Diarmuid the only reason I log on here any more is to red thumb you. Seriously FG needs to review those it has apparently deems suitable to support their propaganda. It’s an epic fail I hope they are not using tax payers money for this….
The only person being disingenuous here is you Diarmuid. Revenue collected from VAT and VRT is supposed to be directed to water services on top of the monies collected through PAYE. Here’s some bedtime reading for you
good point Kerry, dermo you based in castlebar looking after a certain high profile village idiots face tube account paid for by the tax payer to the tune of 55k p/a?
1. Considerable government control over Irish Water, in particular over board appointments:
In other words, jobs for the boys, huge pay packets huge pensions.
2. The fact that Irish Water merely re-organises previously non-market activity carried out by local government, with local government assets being transferred to Irish Water and a large majority of Irish Water staff remaining local government employees.
No effort was made to reform the system and make savings. The existing employees could have stayed where they were, local government could have introduced a modest charge for investment in infrastructure and all of this charge would have gone to that purpose, not padding out the pensions of above.
3. Significant and continuous government funding and support to Irish Water, mainly in the form of operational grants and capital funding.
It’s a semi-state, of course it gets government funding, the issue is with how it’s spent. Again see 1 above. However, we are beginning to see a pattern, privatisation beckons.
4. The lack of economically significant prices
This is not about improving infrastructure, it’s not about conservation, it’s a bout privatising water
5. sales must cover at least 50% of the production costs over a sustained multi-year period
commercial entities always paid for water, that must have gone a long way towards that 50% pre the bloated and expensive IW experiment. add to that the monies diverted from motor tax and vat and yes as a nation we always paid for water. Of course, IW has made the provision of water far more expensive, indeed some estimate at the current rates, even if everyone paid, the revenue collected wouldn’t cover the costs in collecting it. But as we know IW was created as an asset for sale.
so we could have saved the 100′s of millions spent on meters, the further millions spent on advisors, the on going cost of manning a call centre, the cost of a 100€ bribe for every home in the country. bloated pensions etc, and used the local government system as it was, charged a modest charge for water, kept water in public control and not privatised.
Borrowing could have been done on the books if needed, at a lower rate than IW are paying, which would be a further saving for the tax payer. We could have done all this, got more infrastructure repairs and upgrades for a lower cost, but instead FG/LB set up a quango with jobs for the boys, costs of billions with little or no repairs carried out, or planned. In fact infrastructure improvements will be at a lower level than if IW hadn’t been set up.
But that’s the FG way, pay more for less. Yet it’s the LEFT who are LOONEY!!!
Let me give you an answer, and perhaps you can return the compliment.
Increasing national debt is of course, not a good thing. Had Ireland joined with Greece, Italy, Spain and Portugal to seek a write-down of the BANKING debt, our national debt would not be a problem. As it stands, we are the SECOND-MOST-INDEBTED country per head of population, IN THE WORLD. If Kenny and Co. had any interest in helping our country and our people, they would have at least tried- but they didn’t. Why do YOU think they never bothered?
Why did they join Germany in kicking the Greeks and enforcing an agreement which has NO growth, but only indefinite debt which is unsustainable, even according to the IMF and every economist. Was that to our interest as well?
You also miss the point that IW was NEVER about fixing our water supply- it was, and is, about privatization of our water resources so that MNCs can cream off HUGE profits. If the government had any REAL interest in our water supply, they would not have cut funding to local authorities. They would have grants to install grey-water systems, and many other ways to conserve water. BTW, local authorities were meant to be funded by the property tax to pay for local essentials- this included water and I have an email from a government TD stating that “water is included”. A lot of the property tax was diverted to IW, as was about €500 in motor tax, and “other funds”.
Water has always been paid for through PROGRESSIVE taxation. This government is decidedly REGRESSIVE.
Lastly, Stephen Donnelly has calculated that it is costing MORE to collect the money than could actually be collected. Given that IW have “customers” including dead people and many who never signed up, and they still estimate that they have ~70%, with a 43% payment rate this means about 30% of the population have paid. Many were duped and scared, and its still ridiculously low. The cost of IW being on the books relatively small. Scotland managed to SAVE money when they set up their utility. IW adds COST, with no efficiencies.
Agreed on that Sean,the most sickening part of fine gaels dealings with the Germans was their lack of empathy for the Irish public,or their lack of balls to do a deal with Germany to reduce our debt.The worst coalition in our nations history at at a time when we needed the best.History won’t be kind to them.
Well diarmuid because of the mess fg/lab made out of IW, with their lies and their wasting of hundreds of millions of taxpayer money so far the public have made a stand and now probably wont back down. Im not a sponger ,have worked all my life and will never pay IW in its present form. By the time the price freeze is lifted the govt will have wasted billions on Iw, that there is the real outrage and dumbasses like yourself are helping them waste far more money . You and those like you are worse than any spongers . If people in the govt thought more of providing proper services for the taxes they cream from the people and less about how to fleece us for more, or less of making life easy for their billionaire sponging friends this country would be a hell of a better place to live for everybody and not just the privileged few
“Increasing national debt is of course, not a good thing. Had Ireland joined with Greece, Italy, Spain and Portugal to seek a write-down of the BANKING debt, our national debt would not be a problem. As it stands, we are the SECOND-MOST-INDEBTED country per head of population, IN THE WORLD. If Kenny and Co. had any interest in helping our country and our people, they would have at least tried- but they didn’t. Why do YOU think they never bothered?”
Our national debt would always have been a problem – we had a situation where tax receipts fell drastically as a result of the housing bust, unemployment rose and we had increased public spending by an unsustainable amount – the banking issue came later.
Our problems did not start in 2008 – they started years before because of the policies of FF.
We had to accept the bailout because we could not fund ourselves – our debt was so large that we needed to borrow – we could only do so at hugely inflated interest rates.
Joining forces with Greece and Spain – when we clearly did not need to would have been disastrous for our borrowing costs, which have been reduced in the past couple of years.
The more stable the country and economy – the lower the costs of borrowing – it is that simple. We are not Greece.
“You also miss the point that IW was NEVER about fixing our water supply- it was, and is, about privatization of our water resources so that MNCs can cream off HUGE profits.”
So you think our water supply is fit for purpose? You would be in a very small minority, regardless of what you think, our water infrastructure has been neglected for decades – all the money went towards pay and pension increases – not towards the infrastructure and it badly needs investment.
We have to borrow that money and we have to try and borrow at a low cost – but – and here’s the but – why should other countries make loans to us at low rates – when their citizens pay for their water supply and most (not all as many thousands pay outside Dublin) people here don’t?
Same with PS pay and pensions – we borrow to pay these and Social Welfare and we borrow from other countries.
“Lastly, Stephen Donnelly has calculated that it is costing MORE to collect the money than could actually be collected.”
Absolutely agree – the model was wrong, but the principal remains, we will have to pay water charges, it may be direct or indirect – but we will have to pay.
Plenty of people are buying it Les,Diarmuid has the balls to speak out and tell it like it is. Good for him, pity that most of you are simply failing to listen and see this as some kind of victory – it isn’t.
who are you? Alan Kellys brother…his bf…his number one fan? get real! defending the indefensible..the utterly disgusting and totally corrupt quango that is iw
Also, Tierney on over €240k a year! What a joke, what a crooked game they play. All these facts and more has given power to to anti-water charge. Sorry, but ye dug yer own grave out of pure greed and we won’t let ye get away with it anymore until such time ye pull yourselves away from the pigs trough.
Water rates already paid 5%,motor tax and 2% PAYE .. irish water has burned over 500 million euro.. Not one pipe is fixed.. Where did that money go.. Staff, water meters? Or maybe “consultants”
Why Rasher – did you send any? Isn’t that how you and your ilk roll, if you don’t like the truth then you bully, threat, insult and name call – isn’t that it?
The decision has already been taken. Irish Water and its debt remains in the national debt.
Taking the deficit off the books was just Goldman Sachs type trickery. It was the type of logic which was, well yes it is public debt but technically since Irish Water will be privatised and the citizens will be paying the water charges to a private company, we should be able to pretend that it is not national debt.
I would pay water charges if Irish Water was a statutory corporation, the rip off benefits and extortionate salaries were removed, the upper management positions filled by open competition and means testing brought in for affordability purposes, as well as proper conservation measures with a more expensive imposition on wealthier households.
Well said Anthony. I am on a private group scheme and have no problem contributing €2 20 pa for the past 8 years. I wouldn’t give a cent to acknowledge the existence of this quango though. I’d do time first
Trevor, I think you’ll find the majority on the Journal would have had no issues paying for water charges had Irish Water been set up right.
Instead it has been a closed-doors clusterf//k which stinks of corruption and incompetence. Why would anyone pay a company which so blatantly is a retirement home for failed politicians and DoB’s obvious next acquisition?
“Taking the deficit off the books was just Goldman Sachs type trickery.”
It was a good idea to give the government more breathing room. The government messed it up by not sufficiently charging people. The choice is now clear, the operation and maintenance of the water network should be tendered out to the productive sector, rather than persisting with a bloated, union-infested mess. The only reason I support Irish Water is as a vehicle to access funds to invest in our crumbling water network that countless governments and inept local authorities presided over. That possibility now seems to be gone.
The upside is they’ve now lost the fiscal room to puff up social welfare and lobby group pay offs. So there’s a bright side to everything.
“but technically since Irish Water will be privatised and the citizens will be paying the water charges to a private company”
Well Said Anthony Lang. I want the toxic Quango to go. I want all the wasters at the top to go…. never to be seen again in anything that my hard earned double taxed money contributes to. Semi States can be sold off at the drop of a pen or brown envelope or off shore account. Look at Aer Lingus, Bord Gais, ESB ….. no semi state is safe. I thought that the Competition Authority would not allow Monoplies any more ….. where is the competition to Irish Water?????? I long for the day when Karma get Kenny, Kelly, Hogan, Tierney and that lying witch ‘I was just doing my job’ Arnett. I hope that I am around to enjoy it!
“Semi States can be sold off at the drop of a pen or brown envelope or off shore account. Look at Aer Lingus, Bord Gais, ESB ….. no semi state is safe.”
Even with the IMF in place, we privatised nothing. In any case, the infrastructure parts of those companies weren’t sold off, only the operations, and it has broadly been for the better.
“my hard earned double taxed money”
What do you mean double taxed? Is motor tax a “double tax”?
Search eagle. What about the money that Irish water was borrowing from banks at a higher rate than the government would have been. This is a shambles , that has cost more than it should have. Now if this is true , its back in the government balance sheet but with loans with a higher interest rate. It’s a disgrace and incompetence of the Highest order. If their is any one with a mediocre sense of shame. Then resignations should be forthcoming but hey this is Ireland where government reward incompetence.
Couldn’t agree more Anthony Lang. I don’t mind paying to upgrade the water system, but then again I WAS paying – it was just going to local government- and that’s where it should be going imo. There needs to be more oversight on local government to make them more accountable/efficient. I also think the Social Democrats are right to scrap water taxes. The tax take is higher now anyway than when IW was set up. Where all that extra tax is going is what I would like to know.
How long will it be before we hear of the sinister elements. Once IW gets any bad publicity the media kick into gear about the sinister elements. Bet they will be deflicting this bad news with stories of phone calls and on line abuse. Which i don’t in anyway agree with.
Gov and EU masters still in shock that Ireland woke up a little from its deep slumber. We rolled over and played dead for so long they thought it would be a piece of cake know they have to figure out how to push their big water scam through before the election especially now Catherine Murphy has promised to abolish the vile entity. Don’t worry John Tierney they’ll find something for you to do.
I laughed and then cried reading that because they will slot poor John in somewhere he can do even more damage that’s the reward for failure for the select few in this country at the moment.
Next?……..why he’ll be meeting families of four on the streets who’ll tell him where to get off………but he’ll admonish them because right in front of him they’re eating 99′s on a sunny day which could pay for two weeks water and the journalists will report it as true.
on that family of 4 it will only be the 2 kids with 99s on street, mammy is in shop filling a trolly with wine and daddy is in pub with a pint in each hand..
and aa for the sunny bit, those who are really fleecing the country are visiting the sun and their portions of the €770 billion hidden on Caymans, Antigua etc..
It’ll be interesting to see how the sankes in Gvot. can slidder and slide out of this one. If you remember correctly, getting IW off the balance sheet was the single most important issue in setting up IW in the first place. This was truly an atomic cluster fück….
The people don’t want Irish Water and now Eurostat says it has to stay on balance sheet. This has major implications for the budget which will put the government in a very difficult situation.
Will Irish Water be abolished?
Will Enda resign?
Will Alan Kelly resign?
Or will a general election be called?
I’d like to think all the above, but I would worry what the government’s next move will be as they attempt to save themselves.
Minister for bullying and threats Alan Kelly is just far too pig headed to back down, we’ll get the usual spin about improved infrastructure and conservation and all that blah while conveniently ignoring the real reason for IW was profit and cronyism.
#AngryAlan didn’t have to leap into Phil Hogans chair, poiltically it was a no brainer, leave the mess to FG to sort out, but he did and now the chickens have come home to roost.
The gamble hasn’t paid off, there’s a price to be paid, and in any other country it would be paid by a resignation.
But the great promised change in the way politics is done hasn’t materialised and of course it won’t happen.
Labour will find out that they might not have changed but the people have.
Roll on a general Election.
Those that paid should be furious. Perhaps not paying your taxes is the way to go. Maybe the ~5% of taxpayers who pay ~50% of our income taxes should stop paying and watch as the system collapses.
Not paying your taxes has been the way to go for the super rich and big business. If the corporation tax was properly paid we would have billions extra. se cant stand that the people have finally stood up to lies, cronyism and corruption.He is a me-feiner who actually thinks kenny is the Great Leader.
@Derek
“Not paying your taxes has been the way to go for the super rich and big business. If the corporation tax was properly paid we would have billions extra. se cant stand that the people have finally stood up to lies, cronyism and corruption.He is a me-feiner who actually thinks kenny is the Great Leader.”
I don’t know what “properly paid” means. The overall amount of corporation tax actually collected by the government is just under the headline rate.
I disagree with your contention that not paying taxes is the sole preserve of “the rich”, it is endemic throughout all layers of society… finding ways to dodge the tax-man or an excuse not to pay a charge. In any case, “the rich”, as defined by the left, generally pay for everything in this country. 22% of the income pays 55% of the income tax. We have one of the most progressive tax systems in Europe.
It is the rich in the first place who own these politicians who in turn make up new legislation to suit their needs. You see at this stage se its not only Irish water anymore its nearly everything.Please answer the following questions as truthful as you can. Do you support blatant liars ? Do you agree on spending nearly a billion euro on iw without 1 pipe been fixed? Here,s my main question though, can you not see the genuine anger and hatred there is for this govt now after all the promises that have been broken? B”y the way you might be right when you say “not paying taxes is the sole preserve of the rich” but what do you expect when the average joe soap see the elite getting away with it. I think you are wrong on the corporation taxes too.Some companies pay nowhere near the proper rate.
“IT will take a quarter of a century for Irish Water to reduce leakage to “acceptable levels” and at least a decade to remove dangerous lead piping from the public mains.”
“It says Irish Water is still compiling a database of treatment plants at risk of failure; does not know the number of properties at risk of flooding from overloaded sewers; and outdated treatment plants are causing almost 150 pollution incidents every year.”
“Head of Asset Management at Irish Water, Jerry Grant, told the Irish Independent last night that €600m a year was needed for the foreseeable future to bring the network up to standard.”
“A huge amount of work is going on to get the projects in place. We’re looking to spend at least €5.5bn between now and 2021, which includes €1bn for two big Dublin projects – a new supply and wastewater scheme.
“I think €600m (a year) is a base figure as far as the eye can see. There’s never really been an appropriate level of funding,” Mr Grant said.”
One of its major priority projects is the reducing of leakage rates, which currently stand at 49pc – meaning almost half of all water produced is lost.
The plan is to bring this down to 38pc by 2021 and to an “economic level” of around 20pc by 2040.
It also proposes prioritising works at treatment plants currently at risk of failure. Almost one-in-three households source their drinking water from these plants.
Pollution incidents from wastewater treatment plants will be reduced from 149 a year at present, to 75 by 2021 and 20 by 2040.
“Local authorities were reliant on the Exchequer for the bulk of their capital and operational funding. Capital funding rarely met the levels required, especially over the last 30 years, when EU standards drove the need for massive investment … more seriously, operational budgets made only very limited provision for assets maintenance and even less for planned maintenance to preserve design capacity.”
The infrastructure has been massively underfunded for decades, it is in total and utter ruin and will take decades and billions to resolve.
We do not have the money to do it, we have to borrow it, this is why todays news is not a win, it is a loss as these problems won’t simply vanish into thin air.
At least Coddler calls them out on ineptitude unlike Patlyndo who tries to hide or ignore the corruption at the heart of everything this Government does….some folk just don’t care about right or wrong as long as they are stuffing their own pockets.
As per usual Rasher – fail to address the points, merely insult. Why don’t you surprise us and tell us where the money for investment is going to come from – or is a case that “I’m all right Jack” f u and your lot.
Indeed – in Coddlers world we can magic away the debt – wipe our own slate clean and start again, if only it were that simple.
We had bigger problems in the 80′s Al Ca – people paid massive taxes, ask anyone who worked in this country at that time.
We have politician after politician making nice promises and as soon as they are in it changes – why is that eh?
Because we are not out of the woods yet and we have major problems in this country.
As long as the electorate keep falling for promises that cannot be delivered – we will end up having the same arguments. Goverments will come and go – our debt and underlying problems won’t until they are properly addressed.
I worked in the 80′s Patlydo….58% tax rate……..and as bad as it was a man could go out to work and afford a home for his family. Now it takes two working parents to get on the property ladder, never mind caring for kids.
The problem at the heart of it all is corruption and cronyism.
Oh and I had to leave the country in the 80′s to find work. The major difference between this crisis and the 80′s is debt, mortgage debt, personal loans – we had nothing in the 80′s – not even that debt.
Ohh ahhh umm the case for privatisation will be coming soon the murmurs first then the media on board the scaremongering the what can we do then the debate to let people think there is some reluctance on part of our corporate puppet government. Then a late night privatisation bill. The weakened demoralised Irish accept it the looting continues. After that the farmers are up for the sledging as the corporations eye up their small farms I think about 5 or six big farms will do it . Privatise everything the unwashed need to survive they will pay or they will just wither out eventually. Economic Darwinism the survival of shittest . Facism Is shit thats why people fought it in ww2 . We wouldn’t say boo to a ghost now the clock ticks on .
Take a bow Hogan, Tierney, Kenny, Kelly et al, bravo. A Fine Gael inspired own goal, can’t exactly blame anyone else but themselves, auf wiedersehen Irish Water, bualadh bos Eurostat.
Eurostat even kicked the can down the road for the government for months now and they still couldn’t get it right. The problem with this government is, it believes it’s own bullshit, Bahahahahahahaha :-)
It was the government that imposed this extra tax burden on the on the people
It was wrong from the start, Lets stay strong and put this wrong to bed.
Cant wait for the ELECTION ,
“FG will be the cornerstone of the next government. The real question is who they’ll choose to partner with.
My money is on Sinn Fein.”
Remote, but not impossible.
How about:
FG/FF/Lab.?
A Troika of tricksters.?
Doctoring figures in Ireland is a national passtime especially if you have access to the expert accountants. Dont be surprised if the 50% target is reached.
This Irish Water company reminds me of the lad that has jumped/fallen from a skyscraper ,and you have the guy called Enda behind him yelling: ‘start flapping your arms quicker’ .
Time for privatisation.. Was always the case. Just forced on Enda earlier. FG/LAB will spin some sh:t that their against it but have no choice. This time I think Ireland won’t accept Enda. This f:ck up has a lot to be played out yet…
They’ll only do it because they’ve had a buyer lined up since the start. I think the shambles surrounding Siteserv should highlight to everyone that DoB has already been lined up as the next owner of Irish Water.
and dont forget the CEO of Bord Gais who bought 400, 000 shares in D’OBribes metering company.I wonder was that before or after #redacted got the contract without the company …
Smart waters metres run about 250-400 euro, depending on make and model plus where you buy them. The price should also include installation. The thing is though, the manfuactures state clearly that they are only made to last between 5-8 years, depending on the model. They are not install and forget, they need to be replaced every few years else the just cease to work, and when they start to break down they start giving out extremely high readings.
For example in the States last February one city had tens of thousands of metres all just stop working at once, because the local authority did not replace them in the timeframe set by the manufacture.
Then we have a city in New York which is having to replace all the metres, again because they start to fail after a number of years.
niskayuna.org/Public_Documents/NiskayunaNY_Water/watermeterreplacement
Or in Baltimore last year when the city had to pay to replace all the metres for the same reason, at a cost of 83.5 million to the city
articles.baltimoresun.com/2013-11-06/news/bs-md-ci-water-meter-contract-vote-20131106_1_water-meters-water-bill-itron-inc
Or what about this guy in New York.
His metre stopped working and was recording low readings. He thought nothing of it until the city came out and replaced it and found it had been malfunctioning for years, so they hit him with a bill of 2,500 for the wtaer they claim went through but due to the faulty metre was not recorded.
it won’t be privatised because Alan Kelly promised;
“Environment Minister Alan Kelly has said the Government has introduced measures as “far as we can go” to prevent the privatisation of Irish Water and that such an event would happen “over my dead body”".
Well, isn’t that the kind of thing you say when there’s an election coming up?
They could have had a referendum and enshrined it in the constitution…. but no- it was more important to see if the next president might be younger!
How can you tell when a politician is lying? Their lips move!
My mate has a nice pub in Kerry come down any weekend ye like lads he’l only charge ye twice for the same pint that must sound good considering three times makes sense. Ha
irish water was for many people the straw that broke the camels back. it has been a disaster from start to finish and will collapse over the next year in my opinion.
sure enough the public was offered a referendums on controversial topics like gay marriage that was designed to divide the public and take attention off other important matters. no chance off a referendum on the future of irish water or bailouts or reigning in the legal and finance sectors.
the latest euro stat ruling is just another nail in the coffin of IW and this government. a person has to ask why the hell should anyone care about the EUs seal of approval. the european project is collapsing all around them……………that is what people should be talking about, instead they are kept busy with this.
As the Sheik would have said “Keep charging boys, we’re only half way up the hill”, me little diamond. People, you have power. It may not seem like it on a day to day basis, but you HAVE power. Resistance is NOT futile, together we can build a better Ireland for ourselves but, more importantly, for the young people coming up. Keep the faith, together we can do it.
Rashers, is that the young people who have seen their education services cut, is that the young people whose parents are up to their necks in debt? Is that the young people who are leaving the country?
Whether you like it or not – we, as in this generation, screwed up and we left a mess – our kids will have to clean it up.
Small bit off the topic but just in relation to pensions I believe that public funded pensions won’t exist in a few years, everyone will be expected to have private ones. Just an observation. Great news about Irish water though cowboy kelly and gombeen Enda proving beyond a doubt they are useless.
@Robert Lester. Totally agree with you Robert. However, some of us have paid into the public coffers for nearly 50 years when private pensions were only for the rich. We hoped to have something at the end of it all. Looks like we are the losers ….. again!
‘Back on the books’??? Stupid comment search eagle, it was always on the books, I wonder do you even know yourself what you are on about half the time.
There are unconfirmed reports that Alan Kelly is to host a black tie champagne reception to celebrate.
‘There’s literally NO WAY I could be happier” the jubilant minister is said to have told friends earlier. He later added “I think this might be the best day of my life”
That’s the danger Alan, now they will tell us they have no option but to sell IW off to a bidder, not the highest bidder, but a selected bidder, we all might know.
@hw007 It wouldn’t surprise me what Enda does, he is a liar a cheat and will do anything for his rich friends, politics or business doesn’t even come into it.
And how would you define a conspiracy theorist exactly? Anything kept hidden or obscured could be termed a conspiracy. I have a feeling there’s a lot of that going on in the upper echelons of this country.
Of course it stands alone , no body wants it . It’s a farce , and no amount of lies or bullying by this corporate government will ever get the Irish people to pay into its banksters biggy bank . WE ALREADY PAY
They will find some way to massage the figures to keep it off the Gov books, and the troika will look the other way … then there will be lots of back slapping ….
Alan Kelly will have trouble containing himself with this news. If he was so ecstatic with a 43% compliance rate on payment – ” Over The Moon ” doesn’t even come near his delight this morning !!!!!
If left on the governments books,I dare suggest the €100 conservation will float like a balloon into the air,along with the autumn kite flying season!..
Enda and Noonan were good little Irish boys and told the Greek People what to do for their EU Masters – I would guess they will get the outcome they want from Eurostat!!!
who cares the state are paying for it anyway through motor tax and other instruments. weather its on the books or not the taxpayer will be paying and accouable for its borrowing at least if it’s on the government books the liabilities will be more transparent.
Amazing how they suit the news to themselves. it HAD to be their way as Europe wanted it that way but not that it is short payments it’s alright they can afford to go another way. what the he’ll kind of balancing book keeping does Noonan do?
of course he is not concerned. he will just retire at the end of this term on his huge public funded pension. he will soon be forgotten about the same way bertie and cowen were.
thats the problem with the political system……………we are lead by the least amongst us. politicians lunging from one cockup to the next and then when public opposition forces them out they live very well off massive taxpayer funded pensions.
the joke is on us.
Quick translation as I see it… I don’t care I have a huge salary, bonuses and massive pension limped up. I am alright.
The rest will pay and we just keep cutting everything they have until books balance.
Anywhere near the truth?
I wish to plead to tje Irish people: Irish Water will have spent almost 1billion…yes 1 BILLION by the end of the year getti g the whole thing up and running. The Goverment tecently approved another 400m for its functioning after 53% of bills have not been paid. All of this money will be carried by Irish Tax payers. DO NOT PAY THIS BILL. Irish will collapse and must collapse.
So good you have to read it twice…if not three times.
· “Considerable government control” over Irish Water, “in particular” over board appointments and operations, and the introduction of pricing caps.
· The fact that Irish Water “merely reorganises” the operation of the network from the local authorities, and that a “large majority” of Irish Water staff remain employees of city and county councils.
· The “significant and continuous funding” and support to the company in the form of operational grants and funding.
· The lack of “economically significant prices”, and in particular the cap.
· The fact that sales must cover at least 50pc of production costs. “This is further amplified by the high number of households not paying their bills,”
The main points to remember are
1) they criticised the Government board appointments thus highlighting Union leaders and friends of FG who were given the plum positions as the current Governments version of the “brown envelope”
And
2) they categorically state that pricing is way too low which opponents have said all along to prepare yourselves for €1,000 plus per annum bills.
Congrats to the legitimate water charge groups for their leadership and correctly predicting this.
Enda Kenny, michael Noonan, Alan Slurry get it through you head..PEOPLE WILL NOT PAY FOR YOUR SCAM! Its not going to happen, get over it. Thanks to these crooks they have managed to unite the nation against this ! Tick tock tick tock tick tock Enda, toddle back to Mayo and dig some spuds, its all over!
Two elements essential for survival of all life on this planet is air and water, for anyone to claim either can be viewed as a product is despicable. Treatment yes for both but a persons survival should not have to depend on their ability to pay.
Kelly is like comical Ali. “I can assure you that Irish water is a thriving and well loved company” I reckon the guys only in the labour party cos his folks were. I don’t think he knows what he stands for exactly cos his actions are more like that of a conservative Tory.
But this only proves that IW is going to be privatised and that the IMF / TROIKA are behind it…
How can anyone make a profit from 48% unless they are being overcharged by more that 210% or 205% anyway…
So The Government’s angle after today’s complete ‘miscalculation’ is that they had this decision factored in all along and therefore does’nt change anything !!!!!! Keep digging.The sooner the General Election is called the better.
I support Irish Water and the principle of investing in our water and I am paying by direct debit, but this whole exercise is a gift that keeps on giving to the loonies. You could not have made it up.
I am looking forward to my €100 cheque arriving in the post.
Ciaran, I fear you miss the logic of whats been going on this last year. Money raised through tax to invest in your water supply have been sidelined to cover an 8 billion interest bill to cover corporate speculative bank debt. I wish I had a fairy godmother to save my private business interests like that. In addition the 890 million spent in establishing this quango (Enda’s election promise was to cut quangos – not make more) if that was given to the councils to spend on bringing the network up to speed then we would all have a product fit for purpose. If I tried selling our current water supply I’d be up in front of trading standards like a shot. Finally, water is unlike any other commodity that we could live without. Yes provide means for the right supported delivery service, but not as a corporate entity. It should be constitutionally protected from becoming any one persons cash cow. Given how NAMA and SITE-SERV operate and Government positions is being abused for self gain and party posturing this rape of Ireland has to stop.
If and I say If Ciaran O’Mara you get your 100 euro cheque enjoy it while you can because when you come to penison age there will be nothing left in the coffers to pay you a pension ….. this Government have been raiding our Pension Reserves since they came into office. Think about that!!!
I suppose I am just a law abiding citizen who pays his bills and taxes needed to fund public services.
It’s kind of regarded as normal in most European countries. In Irish terms that makes me a fool.
Ciaran, if a well heeled gent like yourself wants to pay twice for your water and help fund the lifestyles of other well heeled gents, then go for it. But I will not.
@Ciaran O’Mara I pay my bills and taxes but I’m not a fool to pay for them twice. Also Martin Luther King said ‘ One has a MORAL responsibility to disobey UNJUST laws’ As for a law abiding citizen bit was it Aristotle who said that ‘Its not always the same thing to be a GOOD man and a good citizen’. None of us want to disobey the Law but when ‘Evil men make bad laws Righteous man must disobey them’ Think about that before you pay again!
no you will have to show you paid that is why there waiting to september/october to pay out if indeed it is paid i reckon with this news they will use it not to pay.
“Money raised through tax to invest in your water supply have been sidelined to cover an 8 billion interest bill to cover corporate speculative bank debt. ”
Sorry Martin, but this is factually incorrect. Only ~1.7 billion of said interest is covering bank debt. The other 6 billion is covering legacy debt and the huge amount of debt racked up over the last few years keeping the public services and welfare show on the road.
lol Search Eagle……only €1.7 billion…..excuse me but that a big chuck of taxpayers money going to the private sector. Don’t see you crying over that loss to the taxpayer.
Next… fracking to ruin peoples wells and force them onto IW…
Ciaran I suppose you have a grotto to them in your garden beside the one to Enda and Joan’s Troika hearts?
Al, it would have been cheaper to upgrade the system first than set up IW with contractors from the U.K. putting in water meters that burst in heavy frost and only last 10 years?
“lol Search Eagle……only €1.7 billion…..excuse me but that a big chuck of taxpayers money going to the private sector. Don’t see you crying over that loss to the taxpayer.”
Apart from all the times I’ve condemned the foisting of taxpayer money onto leeches like failed banks, the protected professions and public sector unions. It seems to me that some people want to conveniently forget about wastage that hits closer to home.
In the so-called “good times”, as we lavished social welfare recipients which award-winning increases, far beyond the pace of inflation, our water infrastructure rotted. FG/Labour have made a complete mess of the solution, and either they or the next government will dispense with Irish Water and we’ll continue with the totally unacceptable status quo.
You are paying 264 euro to get 100 back ,,Great idea NOT ,Only for the “loonies ” your would be paying 600 to 800 euro and getting nothing back ,,,Time to have a little chat with yourself and think how you can save some money ,
Thank you Irish Water ,thank you Fine Gael,, Thank you traitor labour ,Thank you the media Thank you some unions …….. For the biggest mass protest movement seen in years ,For uniting people working class and middle class,and pensioners, young and middle age ……..,For bringing communities together to fight against another tax, For showing us the croynism ,is alive and well in the government parties………. ,For teaching us that the citizens of our country have power ,and despite the main media ,the Jack O Connors in some of the unions ,the threats and the bribes Irish people have stood strong ………,Hail all the water warriors ,in years to come we will be known as the generation that stopped the betrayal of your natural resource ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,let us continue and drive a stake through Irish water and kill it for good ,,
“We have introduced a rate of charge which is very fair and that also includes the opportunity to satisfy the terms of the market test – which we expect we’ll measure up to in that regard” – Enda Kenny, Feb 2015
“Irish Water will pass the Eurostat market corporation test as an independent company capable of borrowing” – Joan Burton, Nov 2014
If you need anymore evidence Enda, Joan, Fine Gael, and Labour are completely clueless and have no idea what they are saying just look at those two quotes. They were WRONG then, they are WRONG now, and neither party should be in office.
Rod it was set up in a way to enable a seamless transition into privatisation, the company was built from the top down with bonus and pay structures in place before a pipe was ever fixed.
“Rod it was set up in a way to enable a seamless transition into privatisation, the company was built from the top down with bonus and pay structures in place before a pipe was ever fixed.”
At the demands of the public sector unions, don’t forget.
Yes govt should stop this faffing, and get companies to pay proper corporation tax,bring the guilty bankers and politicians to justice, start listening to the people and stop paying back debts that are not ours. Its definitley the fairest solution.
we’re Jammin, I never said water charges was a tax. And you’ve pointed out yourself it’s not a tax. So how can say you’ll pay through taxation as you always have?
I know you’re not this stupid o’reilly, so instead of chancing your arm asking stupid questions, why don’t you eat some humble pie, lick your wounds, and wait for the obligatory article about SF to be published.
It’s called “Progressive Taxation”
A progressive tax is a tax in which the tax rate increases as the taxable amount increases. The term “progressive” refers to the way the tax rate progresses from low to high, with the result that a taxpayer’s average tax rate is less than the person’s marginal tax rate.
See also: http://debates.oireachtas.ie/seanad/1997/05/08/00010.asp
Now that Irish Water is clearly a state body, shouldn’t the Government just hand over collection to the revenue and get on with it rather than trying to pretend it’s an independent agency?
The revenue did a great job on the LPT. 97% compliance?
People don’t like envelopes with harps on them.
I also think this may be a hollow victory. Be careful what you wish for, if Irish Water is abolished, they will simply increase the property tax to take in the money the were going to get for the water. As many of the ‘anti paying their share of water’ people have said, the LPT is a tax and can be deducted at source. Like I said, be careful for what you wish for…
@Stephen – a moderate addition to the property tax might have been the way to go given the state of the economy. Instead of spending hundreds of millions on setting up a billing quango that money could have gone a long way to fixing leaky mains where the bulk of the water is lost. Lead pipes could also have been replaced to some extent.
@Stephen O’Rourke – I wouldn’t see it as a victory, hollow or otherwise. There is a better way of addressing the water issue. FG/L simply put their money on the three legged donkey because Phil Hogan said to. The donkey has just lost another leg. Do FG/L have the skills to turn that donkey into a thoroughbred?
It may be better to have it paid through LPT, at least it won’t be going to a profiteer. Which seems to be the crux of the issue for a lot of people. Personally I don’t trust FG to do the right thing for the Irish citizenry, I really and truly don’t. IW is primed and ready for privatisation. Two ministers with the same agenda, job done. Water monetised forever more.
you will pay. it may be via a tax on alcohol or cigs or some other centralised tax. That’s what should have happened to start with. Its the only way to get the looser lefties to contribute a cent, the poor downtrodden things.
“Incorrect, it is a private company operated by shares, whose shares are currently owned by the state. It is this state control which is mentioned, not whether or not it is a private company.”
“Irish Water was established pursuant to the Water Services Act 2013 and is a company limited by shares. Irish Water has two shareholders: Ervia and the Irish Government. The ultimate shareholder of Irish Water is the Irish Government and, on that basis, Irish Water is a state-owned entity.”
“It is registered as a private company, and is advertised as a private company.”
As are ESB Networks, Irish Rail, Bus Eireann – to name a few.
“The Act provides that Irish Water is registered as a private company limited by shares under the Companies Act, with one share in Irish Water issued to Bord Gáis Éireann, now Ervia, and the remaining shares allocated equally between the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government and the Minister for Finance. As Ervia is a fully State-owned company, Irish Water is, accordingly, in full State ownership.
Subsequently, an amendment introduced in the Water Services (No. 2) Act 2013 prohibits each of the three shareholders from disposing of their shareholding in Irish Water and thus places a statutory prohibition on the privatisation of Irish Water.
To copperfasten this prohibition, the Water Services Act 2014 provides that any proposal by a future Government for legislation that would involve any change in the State’s ownership of Irish Water, as outlined, would require approval by both Houses of the Oireachtas and subsequently any proposal would have to be put to the people via a plebiscite before such legislation could even proceed. Also, there is a further statutory provision which safeguards water services infrastructure in public ownership. Section 31(12) of the Water Services Act 2007 prevents Irish Water from entering into any agreement or arrangement with another person which involves or may involve the transfer of assets and infrastructure from Irish Water to that person.”
“As Ervia is a fully State-owned company”
Ervia has been privatised “As part of the disposal of state assets to try and pay off Ireland’s bank bailout debts” but there wasn’t a lot on the TV about it, was there?
It was sold for a bargain basement price- the government got about twice the anual gross profit for the company. Most-STUIPID-Business-DEAL-EVER!
A government can repeal/change this legislation at the drop of the proverbial hat. The ONLY way to safeguard against privatization was a referendum, and why did they not want to go down that route? We all know the answer to that, don’t we!
can’t prove it in a court of law as there were no minutes of meeting taken when a gov minister is discussing the setting up of a billion euro company
meeting’s fg style.
“Bad news for all those tinhats who liked to claim that Irish Water was a private company….Who wants to apologise first for posting misleading leftie nonsense?”
Incorrect, it is a private company operated by shares, whose shares are currently owned by the state. It is this state control which is mentioned, not whether or not it is a private company.
It is registered as a private company, and is advertised as a private company. Now, if you want to argue that it is anything other than a private company, well I know a man with a pint in each hand you should have a chat with.
was the whole point of the Eurostat decision and the setting up of iw not to make it a private company and keep its borrowing off gov. books?? where did I hear that??
If you ask a question on the policy that would be followed if IW was disbanded you get no answer. The anti-IW guys then attack the contributor who make a positive comment.
It’s actually very simple – push it back to the councils, with a small (and therefore relatively cheap) national body of maybe a half-dozen to a dozen qualified people assigned to oversee co-operation between the councils, so that (for example) Mayo’s surplus of clean water can be piped to Galway, if needed. Set an acceptable and fair usage limit by household circumstance, and charge for extra usage. Simples…
Before the government steam rolled their agenda through on IW there was a number of different approaches that could have been made in order to tackle the issue of supplying our water services…the problem I think is the alternatives didn’t lend themselves to privatisation
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