Presentation by Right2Change on the roadshows currently taking place around the country. Killing off conservation!

1. Right2Change & Right2Water
A movement for change?

2. Need more investment?

3. What’s the agenda?
Conservation?
Transfer of wealth?
Transfer the burden of paying for water
from employers to households?
Privatisation?

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

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

6. No Water Meters
Metered Water
Charges
• The UK average is 68,405 litres per person
• Irish Water - 54,750 litres per person
Conservation?

7. Why the meters?
 Senior Executive Engineer for Water, Gerry Concannon, estimated
that the cost of unmetered water is currently about €350.00 p.a. per
domestic unit. When all of the costs of metering involving
installation, maintenance, administration and replacement are
considered he pointed out that this cost almost doubles. (2011)
 Based on the estimated €500 million of investment – we’ve spent
more than double that now!
 “The proposed expenditure on water metering would mean
spending more than €1 billion which we don’t have on
something we don’t need!” Engineers Ireland, 2011

8. What about commercial charges?
 Expected income 2015 (Alan Kelly, Dail April)
 Commercial: €229m (45%)
 Domestic: €271m (55%)
 Total: €500m
 + General Taxation = public pay 78% of costs
 Households use 10% of the water (EU)
 Commercial companies are refusing to pay!
 Collected in Dublin in 2013 – €26,650,000
 Uncollected in Dublin in 2013 - €16,502,532
 37% non-payment rate!
 Alan Farrell TD (FG) on Claire Byrne show

9. The rules setting up privatisation
 Fiscal Compact
 Starts with the revenue raising figure (€601m)
 Off balance sheet = €350m from households
 UN resolution – 36,500 litres per person per year to stay alive.
 If everybody reduces usage to 36,500 litres – still have to raise
€350m.
 Every person uses 36,501 = €184 per litre.
 If only one household uses 36,501 = €350m
 Every litre above allowance would be charged at extortionate rate –
unemployed, underemployed, pensioners, disabled, etc.

11. The great transfer of wealth!
 Privatisation agenda – from our government and the EU
 TROIKA: Portugal, Greece & Ireland
 www.watermeetsmoney.com
 But why?

16. The Water Charges Model
 In 2013 in Britain, private water companies made
profits of: €2.81bn and paid €2.55bn to shareholders
while paying only €101m in taxes.
 Seven water companies paid no corporation tax at
all and a report has shown that the industry is failing
to help customers with “sky-high bills”.
 Investments in big infrastructure projects are used to
borrow and then write off taxes

18.  Ireland is now the most unequal country in the European Union.
 More than ten percent of people suffer from food poverty;
 1,500 children are living in emergency accommodation;
 Lone parents – who are the most deprived group in the State with
63% already experiencing material deprivation – are having their
supports cut;
 36% of children experience multiple deprivation;
 40 families are becoming homeless every month;
 300,000 have emigrated since the current government took power.
State of the Nation

19.  1 in 6 Irish born now living abroad;
 200,000+ are still in search of a job;
 We have the second highest prevelance of low pay in the entire OECD;
 We have the second highest prevelance of under-employment in the
EU15.
 We have record numbers of people (600) waiting on trolleys in our
underfunded public hospitals; and
 470,000 people have nothing left to spend after all bills are paid and 1.7
million say they have less than €100 to spend after all essential bills
have been paid.
 24% rise in people seeking charity.
State of the Nation 2

20.  €405m tax cut to the top 17 percent of earners.
 Independent Media received a debt write-down of €138m
 €300m written off in two years for DOB – Siteserv, Topaz,
Beacon.
 Further Tax cuts in Budget 2016 widened the rich-poor gap by
€1,003 over two years
 Three-quarters of the pretax income gains in the last five years
have gone to those earning €70,000 and above (TASC)
 Employers got a reduction in their corporation tax, employers’
PRSI, and capital gains tax was also reduced.
State of the Nation 3

21. Budget 2016

22. Budget 2016

23. Budget 2016

25. Establishment Parties
1977 1981 1982 1982 1987 1989 1992 1997 2002 2007 2011 2015
Fianna Fail 50.6 45.3 47.3 45.2 44.1 44.1 39.1 39.3 41.5 41.56 17.5 20
Fine Gael 30.5 36.5 37.3 42.2 27.1 29.3 24.5 27.9 22.5 27.32 36.1 30
Labour Party 11.6 9.9 9.1 9.6 6.4 9.5 19.3 10.4 10.8 10.13 19.5 7
Progressive
Democrats 8.4 5.5 4.7 4.7 4 2.73
Establishment
Parties 92.7 91.7 93.7 97 86 88.4 87.6 82.3 78.8 81.74 73.1 57
0
20
40
60
80
100
120
1977 1981 1982 1982 1987 1989 1992 1997 2002 2007 2011 2015
Fianna Fail
Fine Gael
Labour Party
Progressive Democrats
Establishment Parties

26. In favour of water charges!

27. Those against water charges!

28. October 11th

29. November 1st

30. December 10th

31. March 21st

32. August 29th