Water has become a commodity to be bought and sold

The imposition of water charges by the government has shown how an apathetic people can be pushed to their limits, resulting in huge marches all around the county. Unfortunately what has been missing in this whole sorry tale is the role of the European Union (EU).

The EU water framework directive in 2000 which provided for a full recovery of charges for the use of water and under Article 9 of the same directive states that member states shall take account of the principle of recovery of the costs of water

services and it also requires member states to adopt water-pricing policies by 2010.

This directive was enacted under Irish law in 2003. Basically what we are witnessing is turning the available of water into a commodity, something to be bought and sold.

The government will now tell us that that will ensure that the water services cannot be privatised.

They are wrong as unfortunately under the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP), the water services will have to be privatised and is the state fails to live up to its part of this agreement, it can be sued under the Investor-states dispute settlement (ISDS).

Paul Doran

Monastery Walk

Clondalkin

Dublin