Anti-Austerity Alliance TD Paul Murphy has admitted the Right2Water movement will not be able to run election candidates on the “widespread basis we would have hoped for”.

Anti-Irish Water campaigners have accused Environment Minister Alan Kelly of morphing into ex-minister Phil Hogan by increasingly “threatening” people who don’t pay their bill.

The Right2Water campaign is finalising a de facto manifesto for potential election candidates which will focus on the wider austerity debate.

Trade unions that are currently leading a nationwide campaign against water charges are to drive plans to set up a left-wing political movement.

Comedian-turned- activist Russell Brand has called on Irish people to skip work this Wednesday and march against water charges instead.

Comedian-turned-activist Russell Brand has called on Irish people to skip work this Wednesday and march against water charges instead.

More than 17,000 people have been duped into signing up to Irish Water, despite returning packs to say they have no interest in the company.

Right2Water, an umbrella group opposed to water charges and backed by five trade unions, has urged a spectacular and peaceful turnout for a national demonstration in Dublin on December 10.

Most Fine Gael TDs are out of their comfort zones in attempting empathy with the unwashed, suggests Gerard Howlin. 

Trade union leader Brendan Ogle is to step down as Secretary of the ESB Group of Unions.

IT JUST takes a few actions or pieces of rhetoric on the part of either a union representative or an employer to not only throw a workplace into industrial turmoil but also influence the court of public opinion on who is right and who is wrong.

SOME people, egged on by hysterical sections of the media, suspected that ESB trade union boss Brendan Ogle had an agenda to destroy the State, to bring down the Government, to cause anarchy, that he was up to much more than defending the pension rights of ESB staffers.

YOU might want to avert your ears. At the very least, it might be advisable to ask your maiden aunts to leave the room. I’m going to say one of those things you’re not allowed to say.

The threat of power cuts over Christmas was lifted last night after the pensions row between unions and management at the ESB ended in what unions called “a landmark victory”.

Union leader Brendan Ogle is well known for inflaming situations that would otherwise resolve themselves. We all remember the acrimony when he brought the country’s trains to a standstill.

Regarding Paul Mills’ recent article, (Business, Nov 28) the facts are: ESB management and unions agreed in 2010 re the pension ‘hole’.

No individual or single group of workers should have the power to bring this country to a halt.

There is something chilling about the response by Brendan Ogle, head of the ESB Group of Unions, to proposals that customers switch suppliers if a threatened strike goes ahead next month and leads to power cuts.

The ESB faces losing tens of thousands of retail customers if a threatened strike by the energy company’s workers goes ahead.

The secretary of the ESB’s group of unions has admitted any strikes by the workers would have a “significant effects” on the country’s power supply.

Strike action could occur at the ESB within weeks over the company’s failure to address a €1.6bn deficit in its defined benefit pension fund or contribute to the levy on the scheme.

It has been reported that the Government is considering selling a minority stake of the ESB to the private sector.

A NEW voluntary redundany scheme for ESB workers is set to be discussed by management and unions over the coming weeks in an attempt to reduce running costs.

IN the face of potential pay cuts of up to 20%, the ESB group of unions has written to staff telling them they must not let the recession be used as an excuse to cut their terms and conditions while the company is still profitable.

THE trade union movement is in a very difficult place. Angry at the way its members have been treated by the budget it has to find a way to respond that protects their interests.

Country legend Dolly Parton is laughing off longstanding rumors she's enjoying a lesbian fling with her best friend, insisting they are simply "comfortable with each other".

ELECTRICITY bills have risen dramatically over the past 10 years, Taoiseach Bertie Ahern admitted yesterday.

Flight experts combing the Nevada wilderness for adventurer Steve Fossett have spotted several uncharted crash sites that may finally provide answers for families of those who took off into the desert sky decades ago, never to be heard from again.

ESB UNIONS will ballot their members for all-out strike action next month, with the prospect of blackouts from the end of September.

AN estimated 450 ESB power workers are to consider industrial action which could severely hamper electricity supplies across the country at the height of winter.

Louth 4-11 Waterford 0-5

Garda College 1-13 UCD 1-6

The The Technical, Engineering and Electrical Union (TEEU) has called on ATGWU official Brendan Ogle to apologise for referring to TEEU members as “black-leg” workers last Friday.

A union representing ESB technicians on strike said today it would deal with around 100 workers who had not supported the action.

CONTROVERSIAL trade unionist Mick O’Reilly has won back his post as leader of the country’s second biggest trade union.

RAIL chaos has been averted with yesterday’s decision by train drivers at Iarnród Éireann not to strike and their ATGWU branch has decided to try to resolve the row in the courts.

THOUSANDS of rail passengers could be left stranded in the run up to Christmas as a breakaway branch of train drivers look set to begin strike action in a bitter dispute over union recognition.

IRISH RAIL is prepared to face down ATGWU train drivers if they go ahead with a planned series of one-day stoppages in a row over their claim to be recognised by the company.

RAIL passengers across the country may face disruption in the run-up to Christmas in the latest row by train drivers over union recognition.

Stradbally 1-11 Tramore 0-8

MOTORISTS could be killed at unmanned train crossings because of their failure to close the gates at these junctions, a train drivers’ union has warned.

Members of the Irish Locomotive Drivers Association have voted to defer strike action on the country's railways.

Members of the Irish Locomotive Drivers Association, the union which caused rail chaos for 10 weeks last year, will meet later today to discuss the possibility of reinstating their strike action.