Water Charges Are Fair But!!!!!

With regard to Irish Water and water charges, I want to make it clear that I fully appreciate that it costs money to collect, filter and distribute water to every person in the country and I would be quite happy to pay whatever somebody thinks is a fair charge for this purpose and I do know that the new figures set out by the government do not go any where near paying for this service.  The new figures are only a trap to catch the monkey, ie those that are now going to register.  What we are getting is crisis management trying to muddle through a situation to which no proper intelligent thought has been given and where everything was rushed through in late 2013 without thought of the consequence.  Better could have been achieved if the problem had been set for a kindergarten to sort out.

However there are a few provisos to that first sentence:-

1. The collection, filtering and distribution of water in Ireland has always been paid for out of the central tax fund.  It is only the mismanagement of previous governments who failed to put enough funds into this service that we are in the pickle we now find ourselves in.  So if that funding is being finished and a new system introduced, we need some serious and fair minded civil servant to work out the saving to the central tax fund and give that back to the people of Ireland in a reduction of income tax.  Enda Kenny in a snarling moment a few weeks ago suggested that if the people of Ireland did not toe the line with regard to water charges then he would have to slap 4% onto income tax.  So let that then go the other way under this new system.

2. The water that is to be distributed has to be fit for purpose ie., fit for drinking.  The cryptospiridium infested water we in Boyle and many other places in Ireland are receiving is not potable and therefore should not be charged for.  Denis Naughton, our local popular Independent TD said in the Dail that we people of north east Roscommon will not have drinking water available until March 2017.  Therefore we cannot be charged under a water tax for “piss” as our Euro MP, Ming Flanagan, suggested earlier this year in the Dail.

3. There is also another contaminant in the water at present which is the introduction of fluoride into the supply of water in Ireland.  Fluoride is a carcinogenic poison that all countries in Europe have backed away from, so until that practice is stopped by the HSE.  I cannot pay any water charges whilst we continue to die of cancer whilst we grin over the tops of our coffins showing our magnificent set of knashers.

4. On health grounds also I cannot accept the introduction of a smart metering system to measure the consumption.  Smart meters give off electro-magnetic radiation which is harmful to everybody but especially pregnant women and children.  But I will accept a standard charge per dwelling for un-metered water, it has worked well in Britain for years.

5. Since May 2013 we here in Boyle have been under a boil water notice. Every week from then until June 2014 we have had to spend €30 per week buying bottled water.  On June 1st 2014 I bought a special filter from England (They do not sell them in Ireland).  The filter cost €630 and takes cryptospiridium and fluoride out of the water supply.  It cost €100 to fit it to the incoming supply.  The filter element needs changing every year at a cost of €198.  So if we just take the cost up to March 2017 when the situation might start to look rosy, the cost to me for government inadequacy is;-

Bottled water from May 2013 until end of May 2014 – 56 weeks @€30 =  €1680

Installation of filter = €730

Filter elements from May 2014 until May 2017 is 3 years @ €198 = €594.

A total cost of €3004

This sum will lie as a credit in my account with Irish Water so that over the years they can deduct my annual charge from this figure.  With my advanced age there should be enough left in my account for Irish Water to buy my wife a coffin when I shuffle off this purgatory they call life.

What we do not want between now and that pie in the sky day of March 2017 is lies because for the last year the Fine Gael/Labour Coalition government and its tax construct, Irish Water, have been doing nothing but.  We need openness, transparency and honesty from these people or as the Minister for the Environment, Alan Kelly, said when talking in the Dail to Independent TD, Mattie McGrath on 10th December, they can “fuck off”

So my water has to be fit for purpose, uncontaminated by cryptospiridium, fluoride free, with no smart meters and then in mid 2017 when all that is done to my satisfaction Irish Water can then charge me a fair rate and deduct it off my balance of €3004 which built up because the Government of Ireland were not doing what by law they were supposed to do ie., supplying potable drinking water.  Some how or another I can see many a battle taking place before that happens