Socialist Party

There are widespread media reports today that the government will attempt to impose water charges on households in the report of the Commission on Taxation.

This would be another intolerable imposition on the incomes of hard-pressed working people arising from the chronic crisis in Irish capitalism.

We give notice to the government that any attempt to re-introduce a water tax will be met with a mass campaign of opposition including a mass boycott by householders. We would remind the government of the huge opposition to water charges throughout the country, and in particular in the greater Dublin area, in 1994, 1995 and 1996 led by the Federation of Dublin Anti-Water Charges Campaigns, which forced the abolition of this hated tax in December 1996.

Water conservation

The Green Party in government may try to justify water charges by saying that they would assist water conservation. This would be a patent hypocrisy. The fact is that almost half the national housing stock has been built in the last 13 years and extensive water conservation measures which would have dramatically improved the levels of conservation could have been insisted on. Despite consistent calls by the Socialist Party, these measures were not implemented.

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