Mob rule not acceptable protest - Water charge anger

Freedom of movement is a basic human right in states around the world, including in this Republic, where such liberties were hard won by people down the years.

Equally, the right to protest is also a fundamental plank of democracy. But when mob rule takes over and the right of citizens to move freely in society is denied, things get badly out of hand.

Clearly, it is unacceptable if protesters feel entitled to usurp such essential rights by taking the law into their own hands. That happened over the weekend when an obviously terrified Tánaiste and Labour Party leader, Joan Burton, was trapped in her state car for more than two hours by hundreds of so-called peaceful demonstrators engaged in a protest against the imposition of water charges. She had to be rescued by a large force of gardaí and was finally transferred to a garda car to make good her escape.

According to Ms Burton, the car was banged on the roof and rocked in an apparent attempt to turn it over. If her version of events is accurate, then she is fully justified in her criticism of Socialist TD Paul Murphy’s part in the protest. The anti-austerity campaigner is regarded as the leader of the national movement for scrapping water charges. Defending the indefensible, he argued that peaceful protesters were demonised, describing the throwing of eggs as the action of “a few local young fellows”. He claimed that a person photographed throwing a rock at a Garda car was not part of the legitimate protest.

What is perhaps most surprising about this unfortunate event is that the gardaí appear to have been taken by surprise by the scale and nature of the demonstration. Surely they should have anticipated that a demonstration was planned to coincide with Ms Bruton’s presence at the Saturday graduation ceremony in west Tallaght – especially on the eve of the Government’s impending announcement on water charges, an issue which has already brought tens of thousands of people onto the streets.

It is likely the charges for this vital resource, a principle that most people accept, will be outlined on Wednesday. Compared with earlier estimates, the final bill will be relatively modest. Apparently, charges will be fixed for three years or more, with a single-person household paying around €75 a year and an annual charge for a multiple-person household estimated at €200 or less. However, as Ms Burton conceded yesterday, no final agreement has been reached yet .

It is no exaggeration to describe the water debacle as the biggest threat to the stability of the Coalition government. It stems directly from the shambles left in the wake of former environment minister Phil Hogan’s departure for Brussels. Mr Hogan, now a commissioner, once boasted that his ministerial job was not to micro-manage agencies of his department. As bitter experience shows, governance clearly requires more of a minister. It also demands that Taoiseach Enda Kenny should keep both eyes on what members of his team are doing, or not doing. With the water controversy now at Labour’s end of the pool, the risk is that, if the morass gets any deeper, the Coalition could sink.