Conservation Grant – Another Embarrassment for Irish Water and sign of continued opposition

October 7, 2015

Anti Austerity Alliance press conference on the latest facts and figures relating to the Irish Water 'Conservation Grant'.

Paul Murphy, TD, Ruth Coppinger, TD, Michael O'Brien, Cllr and Joe Higgins TD

"Despite ‘giving away €100 ‘ the number applying for the government's 'Conservation Grant' mirrors Irish Water charges payment rates. Despite the spin, this signals that the boycott is still strong" ,according to AAA press statement. "Irish Water should release the 2nd payment figures now rather than ‘bury the bad news during Budget week".

The Anti-Austerity Alliance has said that ‘another embarrassment’ looms for Irish Water after the Irish Times today revealed that less than half of households eligible for the free €100 Conservation Grant have applied for it. The Alliance said that the numbers applying mirrored the numbers who had paid the first bill, even though it was only based on those who had registered and excluded 400,000 who hadn't, and signals that opposition remained solid and called on Irish Water to release the payment figures this week rather than next week as they plan.

Councillor Michael O’Brien said “This is another PR stunt from Irish Water and the government that was an attempt to bribe people into acceptance of Irish Water that has backfired on them. You have a situation where Irish Water is now so hated, and opposition to the water charges is so strong that they literally cannot give away €100.

“This shows the level of continued opposition to Irish Water. The numbers who have applied for the grant roughly mirror the number of people who paid the first bill, however when you factor in that this figure excludes over 400,000 houses who haven't registered with Irish Water and includes people who are not eligible to pay water charges the figures read even worse for Irish Water. So despite there being no onus on people to pay the bill to claim the grant, the majority of people are refusing to even engage with Irish Water to claim a free €100 because they see it as a bribe.”

Councillor Mick Barry said “These figures are another huge embarrassment for Irish Water. It shows that despite their spin around payment figures, their PR campaigns and their scare tactics that a majority of people don’t trust this company and want nothing to do with it. They are even prepared to go as far as turn down a free €100.

“Irish Water’s second billing period is over and they are due to release the figures soon. Whether the numbers for the second bill show the boycott going up or down it will be bad news for the government and for Irish Water as they will show that there is still a strong and numerous boycott of the water charge. Irish Water must release the figures this week. They must not be allowed to hold back the figures till next week in an attempt bury the bad news during budget week."

Irish Water to cut 1,200 jobs by 2021

October 7, 2015

Irish Water has a target of €1.1bn of savings by 2021

Irish Water has said that it is planning to cut 1,200 people from its workforce over the next six years.

The company expects that a voluntary redundancy scheme will be required at some point to achieve its target.

The amalgamation of the water services functions and employees of 34 local authorities left Irish Water substantially over-staffed.

It is under constant pressure to reduce costs.

It has a target of €1.1bn of savings by 2021.

This morning in a presentation to stakeholders Irish Water says that one third of those savings will come from reducing staff numbers.

The company says the 1,200 jobs to go by 2021 will be in addition to the 300 jobs that have been cut since last year.

Up to this point, the reductions have been achieved without redundancies - through natural attrition and not filling roles that have become vacant.

Irish Water says it will continue this approach but that a voluntary redundancy scheme will also be needed to reduce the numbers.

Meanwhile, the CEO of Ervia, Irish Water’s parent company, has said Irish Water will improve water supplies.

Speaking on RTÉ’s Morning Ireland, Michael McNicholas said that Irish Water will be investing €5.5bn in order to improve wastewater infrastructure, eliminate all boil water notices, eliminate discharge of raw sewage into bathing water, reduce the level of leakage by 10% and significantly improve the drinking and waste water capacity across the country.

He added that it will also restructure its service delivery model and reduce staff levels.

"We're going to do that, first of all by moving from 31 local authorities down to a single national utility which creates economies of scale.

"That allows centralised functions, it allows us to regionalise things and that allows us to take some of those jobs out. We're also going to invest in technology that allows us to run our treatment plants differently.

"It allows us to retrain and re-skill people and it allows us to move to the kind of level that a modern utility will have in terms of staffing."

Mr McNicholas also said that nearly 54% of people are projected to pay the second Irish Water bill - an increase of 10% on the first billing cycle.

Sinn Féin's finance spokesperson has said it would be better if Irish Water concentrated on fixing leaks rather than cutting staffing levels.

Speaking on the same programme, Pearse Doherty said that Irish Water's priorities were wrong.

He said: "The best way to drive efficiencies is to deal with the treated water that is being lost through the system day in, day out.

"We know the type of money that is being spent by Irish Water putting pipes into the ground which is minimal compared to the costs of putting water meters outside people's homes or indeed in consultancies or other costs associated with Irish Water.

"The priorities of Irish Water are all wrong."

He added that the plan outlined by Irish Water today is not permissible under law at this time.

Original article RTE Oct 7, 2015

Buncrana Together

This is a kick in the teeth to SIPTU who represent local county council water workers. Wonder what Jack O'Conner and the SIPTU Cork conference thinks about that? The SIPTU conference is taking place at the moment in Cork City.

2021 is about the time the Service Level Agreement between County Councils and Irish Water runs out and all local water workers' jobs will be at risk.

Boyd Barrett urges Siptu to end Labour affiliation

October 7, 2015

People Before Profit TD says union should decide on party support on a case by case basis

Richard Boyd Barrett said Labour has ‘imposed crushing austerity on working people’. Photograph: Dara Mac Donaill / The Irish Times

People Before Profit TD Richard Boyd Barrett has urged Siptu delegates to end their traditional affiliation with the Labour Party.

The four-day Siptu biennial national delegate conference begins in Cork today. A resolution to disaffiliate from the Labour Party will be debated on Wednesday.

“Labour have abandoned some of their key pledges to their own voters and have imposed crushing austerity on working people,” Mr Boyd-Barrett told The Irish Times on Monday.

“It’s hard to understand how Sitpu would maintain an affiliation with a party that has done all that. We think the affiliation should be broken.”

The Dún Laoghaire TD said the Union should provide financial support to political figures in a “democratic” way.

He said members of the Union should decide which candidates or political parties they wanted to support on a case by case basis every time there was an election.

A Labour Party spokesman said the issue was a matter for Siptu.

Siptu president Jack O’Connor, speaking to Newstalk this morning, confirmed he would vote Labour in the upcoming general election.

“I will be voting for the Labour Party. I’m a member of the Labour Party. I’ve never considered leaving it or threatened to leave it and I never will,” Mr O’Connor said.

“But I do recognise that we have to build alliances on the Left. We have to build alliances with groups on the Independent Left and people in the other parties that believe they’re on the Left.

“My only concern is that that work is not sufficiently progressed enough to offer a cohesive alternative to the people in the forthcoming election.”

The motion at the Siptu conference will be proposed by Kieran Allen, chairman of the UCD section committee.

Mr Allen wants to see all unions adopt an “open door” strategy to promoting their policies within political structures.

“This could mean backing a variety of Left candidates from different parties, provided they agreed to promote union policies,” he said.

Minister for the Environment and deputy leader of the Labour Party Alan Kelly expressed confidence at the weekend that the affiliation between the country’s largest union and his party would remain in place.

He was speaking on RTE’s Week in Politics programme on Sunday.

Original article by Mary Minihan Irish Times Oct 5, 2015

Buncrana Together

Siptu general secretary and former Labour Party councillor Joe O'Flynn sits on Irish Water board and receives over €15,700 per year for doing so. See 'Irish Water board unveiled amid claims of hypocrisy', Irish Independent 21/1/2015 '.

Also SIPTU represents all local county council water workers who now operate under the Service Level Agreement and are contracted to Irish Water through the County Councils.