If water meters are installed against your will & without a contract.
If the Irish Government disrespects us by forcing the establishment of Irish Water Ltd and metered water charges and in the process employ, questionable and as yet untested laws, squander billions of euro in legal fees, consultants, public relations, squads of contractors and An Garda Siochána, to do this then we have nothing left but civil disobedience. Throughout the country protesters, despite what the government and media have said, despite the heavy handedness of Irish Water contractors and an Garda Siochána, despite arrests, legal actions, intimidation and imprisonment, have remained amazingly resolute and peaceful.
Irish Water Lies and GMC Sierra Stealth Tactics
Buncrana Against Irish Water, a local non affiliated group of people who oppose Irish Water and the intended metered charges have documented evidence that we have tried all avenues to talk to Irish Water and their water metering contractor GMC Sierra in order to try to reach a sensible, non violent compromise. Our efforts it seems were in vain. Not only did Irish Water tell us they haven't the resources to meet with us but GMC Sierra did not even reply to us.
Last week In Muff, Inishowen, what only could be described as a stealth outfit of two technicians, came in an unmarked van, with no indentification and proceeded to install meters in meter ready estates such as Ard Ban. It was so secret, most people got no notice, that no one knew they had a smart meter until the job was done. Each meter can be installed in a few minutes. See our article on this page Irish Water Insulting Inishowen People.
It is believed that Sierra will be continuing this type of operation along the east side of Inishowen, then to Moville, Greencastle etc. However, there is no way of knowing for sure. Some residents are getting the required notice but the majority are not. Buncrana Together ask all residents who have received notices to contact us 0874652485. You can make enquiries through the buncranatogether.com web page or email buncranatogether@gmail.com You can contact Inishowen Against Water Charges contact details on their web page, http://www.inishowenawc.org/contact.html.
So What Can People Do?
Most people by now have a good idea of the issues and what protesters are doing throughout the country. Buncrana Together has a lot of articles and downloadable resources on their site and on it's facebook page. The group says
" The main thing to do is get up of your behinds and do something. Before any meter goes in you can stop them. Put up notices, go out and tell them you don't want one. Stop contractors coming into your estate, put a car over the meter box/stopcock. If asked to move it by gardai you can do so. Then stand or sit on it and don't move. If barriers go up, get inside and don't move. There is a resource on their web page 'A-Z of Objectors' download that."
So You Have An Unwanted Meter What Do You Do?
A water meter is dangerous it emits electromagnetic radiation and microwaves stopsmartmeters.org and can be dangerous and unreliabe, www.fairsociety.ie. The public will be used as guinea pigs. Smart meters will be read remotely to collect your private data. In the future smart meters will be used remotely to control your water connection, cutting it off if you can't pay. The principle applies, if you have money you can use more water but if you are poor you will use less. This is not a fair system. In the very near future immediately after 2018 Irish Water will be fully privatised and it will become like any utility company where profit is the be all and end all.
There is no need for meters. They are a waste of money. The reason for them is to get as much money out of you as possible. It is control.
Government Lost Credibility
The government has lost the credibility of the electorate. It is unjust and corrupt. Irish Water is a quango led by government hand-picked, over paid executives set up at the behest of the IMF. What with numerous scandals in the past number of years and the increasingly hard approach to peaceful water protesters by An Garda Siochána a sizeable public is loosing confidence in the rule of law. This public is barred by exorbitant costs from addressing their legal rights in courts of laws. Everything is stacked against. Maybe it's time for civil disobedience, it is a duty.
Kildare Anti-charges campaigners to remove water meters
ANTI water charge campaigners in Co Kildare are to step up their campaign and plan to start removing water meters around the county.
This stepping up of the campaign coincides with the issuing of water bills according to The Free Water Tap Kildare spokesman Eamon Broughan.
“This group is made up of members from other groups around County Kildare who are planning to step up the water charges protests. We are under the right2water umbrella and we are stepping up the campaign to coincide with the issuing of bills. We are calling for a mass non payment of the charge.,” he said.
Civil disobedience becomes a sacred duty when the state has become lawless or corrupt. And a citizen who barters with such a state shares in its corruption and lawlessness...Every citizen is responsible for every act of his government...There is only one sovereign remedy, namely, non-violent non-cooperation. Whether we advertise the fact or not, the moment we cease to support the government it dies a nature death.... There have been tyrants and murderers, and for a time they can seem invincible, but in the end they always fall, always..
Cllr Deirdre Wadding, People Before Profit, Wexford County Council
Wadding willing to go to jail after removing water meter
Cllr Deirdre Wadding said she is willing to go to jail after she removed her water meter and returned it to Irish Water.
Cllr Wadding returned the water meter to the company last Monday when officials were at Wexford County Council to meet with councillors.
'I received correspondence with Irish Water on Thursday, January 15, and they said that removing the meter was 'an offence under Section 74 of the Water Services Act 2007 which is punishable by a fine of up €5,000, three months imprisonment or both. They said they are currently deciding what to do.'
Cllr Wadding would have to be found guilty in court of the offence before any of the above sanctions could be applied.
'If they bring me to court and I'm fined I certainly won't be paying one cent of that fine. They can send me to jail if they want. I will happily, willingly and knowingly go to jail over this because I think the whole fiasco has to change.
'If it takes me going to prison I will do that. If I have to put my neck on the block I will. I owe that to the people who voted for me and the people I represent. If Irish Water want to use me as a test case they can.'
Update
Buncrana Together received an update form Deirdre who said "I got a follow up email saying that it was an offence under section 74 of the 2007 Water Service Act. The penalty apparently is €5000 fine or 3 months in prison. They said they are considering which option to pursue. I ignored them and haven't heard anything since"
Cllr Deirdre Wadding at Wexford County Council to give Irish Water back their water meter, January 2015
The proposal to remove water meters is one which has been considered before, according to Mr Broughan. “We thought about it before and when I put it up on Facebook I got an overwhelming response. If we had done it at the time I would have been taking out water meter faster than Irish Water were putting them in. If people contact us through our The Free Tap Kildare Facebook page to remove their meter we will get in contact with them. We will private message people and ask them if they will come with us when we go to Kildare Co Council to hand in the meters to be collected by Irish Water.”
Mr Broughan admitted that he has no authority to remove the meters but he went on to add; “It’s a bit like stopping traffic during a protest, it’s an act of civil disobedience. We will not be doing this at night, we will be very open about what we are doing.”
Mr Broughan said there will be no attempts made to remove water meters at the request of a tenant, unless the permission of the home owner has been given.
“We don’t want tenants contacting us unless they have the permission of the home owner to have the meter removed.”
The anti charges campaign is also organising a tap push throughout the county to raise awareness of the campaign.
A large tap, which was created for the St Patrick’s Day parade in Athy will be the focal poinht,
“We will start in Enfield and Kilcock and make our way to Maynooth, Leixlip, Cellbridge, Clane, Sallins, Naas, Newbridge and Kildare. We will stop there and then head over to Kilcullen and make our way from there to Athy. We are planning the tap push for next week and our message to people is that there is nothing to be afraid of and nothing will happen to you if you don’t pay,” said Mr Broughan.
Meath Against Water Charges Group removing meters. This video shows a few individuals who have decided to remove the water meters from their properties. All featuring in the video have sent correspondence to Irish Water expressing their discontent and informing them about their action prior to removing the meters.