Even if we didn’t object on principle, we can’t afford the water charges

In reference to Cork woman Donna Hartnett, and the impassioned and compelling letter she wrote: it struck a chord and encapsulated the immense frustrations of ordinary families facing the onslaught of wave, upon wave of taxes and bills.

There are so many people in the same position as Donna, or worse, with the vast majority just getting by.

The Irish people have taken so many austere measures on the chin already, but the introduction of water charges has simply pushed too many of us too far. This has been the catalyst for thousands upon thousands of us to take to the streets to protest this latest assault on our already meagre means.

We have paid and paid, and continue to pay, for the recklessness of banks and developers and the ineptitude of successive governments. We pay VAT, income tax, PRSI, USC, DIRT, VRT, motor tax, property tax and a host of utility charges and insurances. We always understood that domestic water was paid for out of the general taxes listed above.

We’ve been paying for our water for generations, but, it turns out, the money wasn’t invested in maintaining the network. Who’s responsible for that? Not ordinary people. Yet, we’re unjustly expected to pay again.

Exactly where does Mr. Kenny suggest we find the money to pay twice? Would it be at the expense of feeding or clothing our children? Heating our homes? Paying health insurance, home insurance, or life insurance? The list goes on. It really does come down to this, for many of us: what else are we prepared to sacrifice? This has been made all the more unpalatable with the recent news that AIB doesn’t have to repay the €21bn bailout it received from the Irish taxpayer, and that the Central Bank is blowing €140m on a plush new HQ!

Even if we weren’t principled enough to object to being charged again for domestic water, after years of austerity the simple fact is that most of us just don’t have any more to give!

Mr Kenny says he’s listening. But, yet, he keeps bleating on about allowances and affordable water charges.

In my opinion, the concessions won’t work this time. He needs to listen, and look to those who have benefited the most in successive budgets: the millionaires and big businesses availing of generous tax arrangements. It’s time to start redressing this imbalance, instead of continuing to squeeze the poor, the vulnerable and the hard-working, struggling families.

The water-charge protest is as much about injustice as it’s about our water.

Paul Hogan

Manor Grove

Mountmellick

Co Laois