The privatisation of water has already begun

I attended the Right2Water public meeting in the Silver Springs Moran Hotel, in Cork, to see the Detroit Water Brigade and hear what Brendan Ogle had to say. 

The points raised were poignant.

Examples included an awful story from Focus Ireland.

They bring hot soup/tea to dozens of homeless people who sleep beneath the pillars of the GPO in Dublin.

They used to pop to a fast-food restaurant for free hot water to make the soup or tea, but are now being charged for the water.

Focus Ireland will have to carry hot water with them, or mobile equipment to heat it.

Makita Taylor (Detroit Water Brigade) said that after the smart meters were installed in Detroit, her bill rose 50% in one month and continued to rise, month on month, for the next year.

Justin Wedes (Detroit Water Brigade) said that our Government was doing exactly what Detroit had done: technically, Detroit’s water is still a public utility, but they privatised its functions, one by one.

That’s already happening here, with backdoor privatisation via the private companies that run the meters’ installation and connections (GMC/Sierra, Murphy etc).

Private consultants (€86m worth) set Irish Water up and it is run by an unelected board of directors, appointed by politicians in a ‘jobs for the boys’ scenario. We are already on the road to privatisation.

Conor Newman

The Oaks,

Old Youghal Road,

Midleton,

Co. Cork