A nationalanti water charges demonstration will take place this Saturday in Dublin starting at 2pm and the assembly point are Connolly Station and Heuston Station. It is organised by Right2Water Ireland.
Assembly For Justice packed Liberty Hall in support of #jobstownnotguilty
This is an 18 min introduction by Brian Leeson (Éirigi) and Joe Higgins (Solidarity) who introduced the 'Assembly For Justice' event in Liberty Hall, Dublin on Saturday 1st April 2017.
The event was organised by the #jobstownnotguilty campaign and included various people speaking in support of the Jobstown protesters who are accused of 'false imprisonment' of Joan Burton, (Labour Party) and former Tánaiste, at the Fortunestown Road in Jobstown, Tallaght, on November 15th, 2014.
Five of the accused are due to appear in court on the 24th of this month. Mr Leeson and Higgins spoke on behalf of the 5 defendants who were unable to speak due to a partial gagging order handed out by the courts two days before this event.
Source: #jobstownnotguilty
People Before Profit vow to block any move to water charges
Richard Boyd Barrett and others at the People Before Profit national conference in Wynn’s Hotel, Dublin: “The big wasters are the Government who have failed to fix the 40 per cent leaks in the water mains systems.” Photograph: Dara Mac Dónaill
People Before Profit will oppose any attempt to bring in water charges including excessive use charges, according to its Dún Laoghaire TD Richard Boyd Barrett.
“We will resist anything that tries to leave the back door open to bringing those charges back in. Excessive use charges are that,” he said.
Speaking at the party’s annual press conference in Wynn’s Hotel in Dublin, he said “there’s no evidence whatsoever of wastage by householders in this country. The big wasters are the Government who have failed to fix the 40 per cent leaks in the water mains systems.”
The Oireachtas committee on water charges has agreed a draft plan that households using 70 per cent more than the normal usage limit could face financial penalties. He said water leaks “won’t be addressed and haven’t been addressed by water charges. It will be addressed by a major increase in public investment in the public water infrastructure and that’s what we’re fighting for.”
About 200 people attended the day-long conference for the party which has three TDs, one MLA in the Northern Ireland Assembly and 11 councillors.
Full article: Irish Times April 2 2017 by Marie O'Halloran