Brendan Ogle's upcoming talk in Donegal. Is it a coincidence or inquisition?

By James Quigley - on Brendan Ogle's upcoming talk in Donegal.

Donegal Daily July 26 2017

 

This is an exercise more like the same old controlled opposition that we have experienced for years, propaganda from unelected and self appointed leaders trying to kick-start what has been shown to be a power grab for political and personal reasons.

It is too much of a coincidence that Brendan Ogle decides to come, to the wilds of Donegal from Dublin in the midst of a R2W community revolt, a grassroots revolution trying to take back power from trade unions, political parties and personal agendas .

It seems more like a witchhunt and the Witchfinder General will come and breathe fire and brimstone on the dissident people who dared voice their opposition and opinions. He will also try to instill and bolster up the determination of his followers. It is a cynical exercise organised by undemocratic, corrupt R2W Ireland leadership in Donegal egged on by the undemocratic national leadership. After all they have done to control and mismanage a magnificent national campaign, how else can we look at it?

Now the excuse is that they did the best they could, that they had only 5 TDs on the controlled Oireachtas Committee and as such could not control the outcome. After the horse has bolted with not a word in the final draft report from that committee about the River Basin Management Plan and the 9.4 Exemption, after not a single criticism from the 5 TDs, after the shout of victory and Mr Ogle rejoicing about the outcome, now this psychopathic R2W Ireland leadership’ (never admit wrong), is latching on to the 9.4 and the RBMP for all it’s worth and unashamedly putting the onus on us to do what they should have done months if not years ago. March down the same old road again only for them to take the credit again.

I can recall Enda Craig last year writing a lot about the 9.4 Exemption in Buncrana Together. He even ventured on to R2W’s main website and the local ones in Donegal to ask them why they were not doing anything to highlight it. He got short shrift, nothing but abuse. Now they are all over it and trying to say they have been at it for years.

This exercise is the same old propaganda, modus operandi, hoodwink,  designed to keep the assumed leaders in power or protect their jobs for years to come whether union or political, a permanent opposition.  When all else fails blame the failure on the dissidents or that other Republican party Fianna Fáil.  It’s a bit like Northern Ireland, where Sinn Féin has attained a permanent opposition status with a sure call for a United Ireland.  Having agreed to the Good Friday Agreement they can safely say that their jobs are good for maybe 20 years.  Or the European Union that’s another good hunting ground.

Thank god I don’t have to go the talk show and listen to a tirade from someone who hoodwinked and controlled the water campaign, called for water charges, accepted metering, Irish Water Ltd and supported a minority Fianna Fáil Government. All while he said the opposite and getting paid to boot.

I would like to say ‘we haven’t gone away’. We will support the dissidents who seek democracy, truth and justice, community power.  We have witnessed our power so Mr Ogle and all political parties beware.

 

 

 

Right2Water site should not be used to promote “fake news” in UNITE election

This article is from www.socialistdemocracy.org/  published on 10 April 2017.  It concerns how Right2Water Ireland's official site is used for 'Fake News'  by unnamed authors and noright of reply.

 

 

An article has appeared on the Right2Water site from a Unite official in Ireland stating; “Let’s be clear, without the support of Len McCluskey, there would be no Right2Water or Right2Change.” The author here is not giving due credit to the many Unite members who tramped the streets and blocked access to communities as part of the great mass of water protesters and who did play an important practical role in the movement.

Instead the credit for a determined struggle, in which victory is not quite yet achieved, has been snatched from the people that faced down the goons on their own doorstep and handed to the leader of a British trade union.  This is an absolutely shameless piece of biased electioneering in the Unite leadership contest. Worse still, it is clear that official involved considers the Right2Water site his own private playpen. There is no open access to the site and no right of reply.  Supporters of Right2Water are not being invited to discuss, but used as targets for "fake news" in a titled election.

This eclipsing of the role of the people who were the real backbone of the water protests entirely mirrors the election taking place in Unite.  It summarises perfectly the trade union leadership's attitude to its own rank and file membership.  By presenting these laurels to McCluskey the author ignores one of the candidates completely, Ian Allinson, failing to even mention his name. 

Allinson was a member of the Unite NEC for 10 years and, unlike the others, is in full time employment outside the union. He is a workplace activist who has effectively unionised a traditionally hard to organise sector at Fujitsu UK and has been on strike and on the picket line during the election nomination and campaigning period. He has to apply to his employer for leave from work to campaign and does not have the vast resources that is at the disposal of McCluskey and the reactionary right winger Coyne.  In spite of this difficulty his supporters ensured he was on the ballot.

As with the previous leadership challenge of Jerry Hicks, Ian Allinson has had to rely on a network of rank and file trade unionists and supporters and appeal for funds to produce leaflets and information on his candidacy.  Despite the obvious difficulties the Hicks campaign achieved second in the last election.  Allinson hopes to emulate this record, and make his rank and file driven campaign a viable left opposition to McCluskey and the potential basis for a rejuvenated trade union movement that reflects the needs of its membership. 

Allinson, like the anti water charge protesters, is part of the real struggles of working classpeople.  He is from the shop floor and this connects him with those struggles in a way the others cannot match.  Yet this does not merit a mention on the R2W article.  Just as the author writes the people who struggled against the water charges out of history he also erases the candidacy of the only rank and file candidate in the election.

This should not be allowed to pass. The leadership's condescending attitude to the mass of the protesters is a reason why the anti water charges campaign needs to be democratised. Only by drawing in representatives from local activist groups and communities and rank and file trade unionists can the threat to privatise water be conclusively ended.  Through such a process the campaign can also begin to address health, education, transport and all the issues generated by austerity which face the Irish working class.  For the the same democratic reasons Unite members in Ireland should vote for Ian Allinson and a union that is driven by the interests of its rank and file members. 

More information on the Allinson campaign at; 
http://www.ian4unite.org/wont-allinson-split-the-vote/

 

Why the 9.4 water exemption clause on water charges is a game-changer, missing from Oireachtas Report and sadly going to disappear

This is another interview from OceanFM, NWT, June 23 2017 on the issue of the 9.4 Exemption clause of the EU's Water Framework Directive that gives Ireland an exemption on water charges.  Michael Mooney, a former election candidate in Donegal with the Right2Change campaign speaks clearly and passionately on the history and importance of the 9.4 Exemption clause.  He voices the disillusionment and shock that many in Ireland feel over how we were led, how the campaign against water charges has gone and about our fear that water charges are coming down the line.

OceanFM NWT, June 23, 14 mins

 

Buncrana Together

Charges coming down the line

Anyone interested can view the draft River Basin Management Plan 2018-2021 on the Dept of Housing's website. 

Click the link opposite to view the complete draft plan.  Page 77 gives you an idea of whats coming down the line with regards charging and structuring.   

Imagine the importance of the River Basin Management Plan, a fundamental building block of the Water Framework Directive where all future structuring of our water is planned.  Imagine after it's importance and the 9.4 Exemption was highlighted in the Oireachtas Committee and it didn't even get a mention in it's final report. 

 

What have we got really?

Having read the report from the expert Commission in particular paragraph 2.1 'Water Charging in Ireland: Timeline of Key Decisions', page 6, we came across the following;

"September 2014: the CER decided on the water charges tariffs (taking account of the Ministerial Policy Direction) that came into effect on 1 October 2014. The main aspects of the charging regime were: a free household allowance of 30,000 litres; free allowance for each child; exemptions for certain medical conditions; charges for usage above the allowance; and households without a meter would be charged on an assessed basis, using occupancy as the criteria for assessment.  More details of the Charging Plan are listed in Appendix 2.

Does that not sound all too familiar and that was back in 2014?  Note also not a peep about Irish Water Ltd which is by now well entrenched, politically and financially.