Whatever Enda's Commission decides, we will not pay

June 14, 2016

"Whaever Enda's Commission decides, we will not pay."
This is a statement including the poster below from People Before Profit, published on June 13, 2016.

This People Before Profit's call for boycott succinctly describes what we think of the recent publication from the ultra right wing Fine Gael Government's 'Terms of Reference" for an 'Expert Commission on Domestic Public Water Services" on June 11, 2016. (See our article here for details.).

This so called 'expert commission', is a result of political maneuvering between Fine Gael, Fianna Fail parties and some Independents after two and half months of prolonged political bartering. Eventually this resulted in the formation of a Fine Gael minority government. Interestingly it was the Fianna Fail party who for self preservation, with one eye on the next election and the other eye on Sinn Fein, who made a deal with Fine Gael. Will this deal see Fianna Fail reneging on it's electoral promises of abolition of Irish Water and Water Charges, a clear Fianna Fail 'Core Policy'?

It is ironical that the very government who is now setting up this commission and setting out it's 'Terms of Reference' is the very government who, three years ago, hurriedly and extravagantly established the Irish Water Ltd company and it's policy of water charges. It spent billions of euros on 'expert advice' from multinational and national 'experts', and implementation of one failed policy after another. On the whims of experts and EU task master.

For three years the Fine Gael led coalition government battled with the Irish people and used every means in their arsenal including; spending a fortune in public relations, (a euphemism for lies and mind manipulation), monetary and judicial threats and intimidation, in their effort to railroad what the Irish people twice in the past refused to accept, the privitisation and commodification of our water resource.

Despite all the draconian measures, the anti water charge movement withstood the onslaught and grew to be the majority opinion in the country. This opposition to what was seen as an unjust austerity measure resulted in a resounding defeat for the Fine Gael/Labour Government in February's 2016 General Election.

The majority of Irish people democratically voted for the abolition of Irish Water Ltd and Water Charges.

False Terms of References

So how come we will have a Fine Gael designed commission where the 'Terms of Reference' and hand picked 'experts' will be chosen by Simon Coveney? Where is Fianna Fail and their core promises in all this? Where in Minister Coveney's documentation does it say that it will be bound by the democratic wish of the Irish people, a wish that has been resoundingly demonstrated three times in the past 3 decades? How much more clearer can the message be?

Shouldn't the first terms of reference be that any model for domestic water supply must be set up in accordance with the democratically wish of the Irish people? It should not be the dictate of Fine Gael, the EU, the IMF or any international expert. It must incorporate a national coordinating public body overseeing management and County Council's implementation of our water infrastructure.

Somehow the action of Mr Coveney's government is reminiscent of the 2008 Lisbon Treaty referendum when after the Irish voted 'NO', the establishment, including the EU Commission, forced a second referendum on the Irish people. After manipulating public opinion, carrots and sticks, the second referendum in 2009 overturned the first.

Such manipulation is happening again. The proposed 'Terms of Reference' is designed for one outcome, that of circumventing the wish of the Irish people. Once again we will have a lot of money spent on spin, manipulating and threatening public opinion.

We must learn from past experience. We can not trust this right wing farce, we can not control it and we can not reform it within.

What we can do is 'Boycott'. We have the power to do this.

MEP's response to EU commission and Irish government over 9.4 WFD 'Irish Exemption'

June 13, 2016

Sir, – The European Commission has never made any official statements asserting that Ireland abolishing direct water charges would be in breach of the water framework directive.

The water framework directive, which was adopted in 2000, states that all EU member states may derogate from the water pricing obligations contained within the directive.

In a recent response to a written question submitted by Lynn Boylan, the European Commission confirmed that this derogation still exists. Yes, the response also stated that if “established practice” was a direct water charge then the flexibility to use the derogation would not apply, but here we come to the crux of the matter – “established practice”.

The European Commission is already on record as stating that it considers “established practices” to be those practices which were “an established practice at the time of adoption of the directive”. This directive was adopted on October 23rd, 2000, and transposed into Irish law in 2003, when it is beyond doubt that Ireland used general taxation as its established practice.

Additionally, since direct water charges were introduced in Ireland only in the last year and – far more significantly – since those charges have been rejected by the people, charging directly for water is not the established practice in Ireland.

Furthermore, in a 2014 landmark case on EU water recovery rules, the European Court of Justice found in favour of Germany, after the European Commission tried unsuccessfully to take that state to court for, in its opinion, failing to fulfil its water framework directive obligations. The judgment conclusively stated that it cannot be inferred that the absence of pricing for water service activities will necessarily jeopardise the attainment of the water framework directive.

As recently as January 2016, more than one year after the establishment of Irish Water, in a response to a written question which asked if Ireland would be in breach of the water framework directive if water charges were dropped, the European Commission simply stated that the second river basin management plans would be assessed against the requirements of the directive. Anything else is simply conjecture.

The European Commission has also confirmed in emails to Lynn Boylan and Marian Harkin that if Ireland would like to avail of Article 9.4 (the derogation) then it should submit that request in its second river basin management plan with justification. This second river basin management plan is now not due to be submitted until 2017, with plenty of time for Ireland to establish that derogation.

It is beyond doubt then that if the Irish Government so wishes, it can still use the derogation and justify its use in its river basin management plans, as has been done and is still being done by so many other European regions and countries.

In light of all the above, it is clear that certain commentators and politicians have distorted the debate by misconstruing or embellishing what the European Commission has put on record regarding the derogation from water pricing in the water framework directive. Worse, it is also clear that many of those same politicians are deliberately twisting this clear, unequivocal situation and using it as an excuse not to avail of the derogation, which gives the Irish Government the final say in deciding on water charges. – Yours, etc,

LYNN BOYLAN MEP,

MARTINA

ANDERSON MEP,

MATT CARTHY MEP,

LIADH NÍ RIADA MEP,

LUKE MING

FLANAGAN MEP,

NESSA CHILDERS MEP,

MARIAN HARKIN MEP.

Original article; Irish Times, June 12,2016

Establishment of an Expert Commission on Domestic Public Water Services

June 11, 2016

The Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government, Mr Simon Coveney T.D. is to establish an Expert Commission shortly to make recommendations on a sustainable long-term funding model for the delivery of domestic public water and waste water services by Irish Water. The proposed terms of reference for the Commission are shown below, and it is intended that the Commission will endeavour to complete its work within five months of its establishment. The recommendations of the Commission will be considered by a special Oireachtas Committee.

The Minister intends that the Commission will include both national and international experts and invites interested parties to put forward potential nominees. Given the complexity of the issues involved, it is intended that the Commission will require professional expertise in funding and financing of large scale infrastructure investment and maintenance programmes; economic regulation; utility approaches particularly in the water sector; water resources management and water environmental law.

Names of nominees and their respective areas of expertise should be submitted using the template attached to the Department (ExpertCommission@environ.ie) by 5.30pm on 17th June 2016. Please note that any submissions made are subject to FOI, and any confidential information supplied in this context should be clearly highlighted.

Final selection shall be a matter for the Minister, taking account of need for the Commission to have the best range of expertise to deliver on the terms of reference within the timeframe proposed.

Proposed Terms of Reference

An Expert Commission will be set up to assess and make recommendation upon the funding of domestic public water services in Ireland and improvements in water quality, taking into account:

The maintenance and investment needs of the public water and waste water system on a short, medium and long-term basis;
Proposals on how the national utility in State ownership would be able to borrow to invest in water infrastructure;
The need to encourage water conservation, including through reviewing information campaigns on water conservation in other countries;
Ireland’s domestic and international environmental standards and obligations;
The role of the Regulator; and
Submissions from all interested parties.

The Commission will be empowered to commission relevant research and hear evidence to assist this work. The Commission shall endeavour to complete its work within five months of its establishment.

Original article published on Friday, June 10, 2016; Dept of the Environment

Buncrana Together

This idea of setting up a commission to investigate the so called best model of water services in Ireland was first muted by Eoin O' Broin, Sinn Fein on RTE's This Week on March 13, 2016. This was an unilateral call by Sinn Fein, one which surprised quite a few anti water charge groups in the country. What was more alarming was that Mr O'Broin agreed to abide by any decision of any commission even if it came out in favour of Irish Water and charges.

This was not the first time Sinn Fein went out on a limb, making unilateral decisions. Once again this put the water movement on the back foot. It is still unknown whether the self proclaimed leadership of Righ2Water, i.e Brendan Ogle & Co, knew anything about the O'Broin statement beforehand. There was no explanation, no condemnation of the proposal and no statement from Mr Ogle.

Bear in mind that the 'Commission' proposed by Sinn Fein was at a time of intense negotiations between parties and independent TDs trying to form a new government after the inconclusive February 26th general election.

What was Sinn Fein's motive for suddenly and without a mandate calling for a commission? Only they can answer that but for us it was manipulation and it eventually handed an excuse to Fine Gael to form a minority government with an agreement from Fianna Fail. Fine Gael and Fianna Fail got over the thorny, divisive issue by agreeing to a commission on water services and abolishing water charges for nine months at least.

Who knows maybe they might have come up with that idea anyway but they knew that Sinn Fein could not say boo since they came up with the idea in the first place. The water campaign is at the mercy of political manipulation and party politics.

Now we have Fine Gael on their high horse pushing their own agenda with Fianna Fail adding little input or criticism. Not only does Fine Gael want 'experts' but the minister is going to pick them as described in the following extract from their submission of nominees.

"Final selection shall be a matter for the Minister, taking account of need for the Commission to have the best range of expertise to deliver on the terms of reference within the timeframe proposed."