Irish Water Ltd - Twenty-first century plunder of Ireland

November 25, 2016

This article is based on a powerful speech by Mick Wallace, TD in Dáil Éireann, Nov. 9, 2016, debating 'Thirty Five Amendment to the Constitution (Water in Public Ownership) Bill.'

Buncrana Together is publishing it below, verbatim, since we believe it is one of the most important speeches that we have heard.

It is an article that we intended to do as a follow up to 'The battle of Irish Water, another reason to heed protesters'. However, we did not get around to writing it. The subject matter is complex. It is a tangled web of interconnecting elements encompassing multi-national corporations, vast amounts of money, Government collusion and European bureaucracy. It is a story of government agencies and public bodies, willingly or unwittingly, succumbing to the guile of international and national lobbying in the quest for power and wealth. It is a story that begs more investigation by impartial experienced journalists.

In short it is a story of corporate imperialism and greed.

In this centenary year of the 1916 Easter Rising, Mr Wallace's words are poignant and somewhat ironic. On the one hand it is a year to celebrate and honour the men and women of 1916 and all those who fought against and suffered oppression, plunder and conquest. However, one hundred years later we have the situation where our country is being plundered by multinational corporations aided by the Irish Government, carving up our natural resources and oppressing the majority of Irish people.

The importance of getting rid of the Irish Water Ltd quango can not be understated. Irish Water is the nucleus of this corporate takeover. We would like to add RPS to Mr Wallace's list, This is a company that is at the heart of the Irish malaise. RPS describes itself as 'Ireland’s leading planning, design, engineering, environmental and communications services consultancy'.

This is no small boast. In fact it is true. For the past thirty years this company has been working hard to get into a position where it is the leading adviser to the Government in Ireland. It consults and lobbies every planning authority in Ireland. It has influence over the country's architects and engineers, technical colleges and universities, education in general.

Photo: Jennifer Sayers: Errigal, Co Donegal, Ireland

Unless we get rid of Irish Water, it might as well be privatised

Deputy Wallace: "Like most people in Ireland, I do not think the water service should be privatised, but, sadly, unless we get rid of Irish Water, it might as well be privatised because that is where we are. For want of a better term, Irish Water is another version of the HSE and literally outsourcing just about anything it has on its table. It is carving up the country.

We have Aecom in the Dublin area, EPS in the Cork area, Veolia in Kilkenny and Glan Agua in Galway. Between the four of them, they are literally taking over water provision in Ireland.

They are designing, constructing and operating facilities. Of course, the money is to be made in operating facilities, which I am sure is not news to the Minister. If people are paying through the Government, it will cost a fortune now that we are allowing Irish Water, a version of the HSE, to arrange how water and wastewater services are organised in Ireland. There are huge problems.

Some of the companies are incredibly big and will do what they like. I will mention one of them. Veolia has just won a 20-year design, build and operate contract with Irish Water which includes an €18.4 million upgrade of wastewater infrastructure in County Donegal. In May it won a 27-month design and build contract in Cavan. The water treatment plant in Athy, County Kildare is operated by it under a 20-year design, build and operate contract. It was the operator of Ireland's largest biomass power plant in Killala, County Mayo. It was to meet the total biomass fuel requirement in the vicinity, with biomass to be brought from the United States, landed at Dublin Port and transported by road across the country. The project has run into the sand because it does not make any sense.

I would like to see some transparency on how the whole thing was set up. Was there a tender process? It was a gift to foreign corporations from the State which is about to produce dirty energy, the production of which will be subsidised by the people of Ireland. It was to be expensive. US investors were guaranteed a price well above the level in the wholesale market available to unsubsidised generators.

What a disaster we have have at Ringsend. Celtic Anglian Water, a subsidiary of Anglian Water in the United Kingdom, is being allowed to print money because of its contracts and seemingly Irish Water can do nothing about it. Celtic Anglian Water has Irish Water over a barrel and can charge whatever it likes. There is mayhem. The Minister should take a close look at what is happening in Ringsend. I would like him to come back and tell us that everything is grand because I have information from inside the industry that things are far from it. There are huge problems.

Before Irish Water was established, we had the local authorities taking the same route. What Irish Water amounts to is a red tape version of what we had in place around the countryside with several layers on top. Bureaucracy has flourished under Irish Water which has increased the amount of red tape no end. The Minister should tell me I am wrong. Is Irish Water getting huge companies to design, build and operate plants and giving them 20 to 25-year contracts to complete the project?

We are giving them powers that will be almost uncontrollable in the years to come similar to the powers Celtic Anglian Water has in Ringsend.

Veolia which is not even the biggest in the country but which will probably become the biggest because it will gobble up some of the others in the near future is involved in the energy and transport sectors.

It had to sell off its transport operation in Israel where it was introducing transport measures in the Occupied Territories. Palestinians, however, were not even allowed to use the transport system. Veolia had received so much bad publicity that it had to pull out of it. It is all over the shop in the United States where it has been thrown out of several cities for bad practice and introducing cost-cutting measures at the cost of quality and because of health concerns. Somebody in the United States said recently that if one wanted to describe what Veolia got up to, it would come in, rape one's water company and leave with money bags. It is to take over water services in this country unless we get rid of Irish Water and the Government takes a direct role in it. Inserting this measure in the Constitution will be a waste of time if we go down this route."

Source: oireachtasdebates.orieachtas.ie

6 Out Of 10 Irish People Want Neutrality Enshrined in Irish Constitution

March 16, 2016

A recently commissioned Red C Poll has shown that 6 out of 10 Irish people want Neutrality to be enshrined in the Constitution. At present, Irish Neutrality is a policy choice, decided on by the Government of the day.

The Poll also finds that 57% of the Irish people oppose the United States use of Shannon Airport for Military Transit Purposes, this figure excludes the 'Don't Knows' which are at 4%.

This week, the acting Taoiseach Enda Kenny visits US President Barack Obama, and it is imperative that he raises the concerns of the Irish people, regarding the ongoing militarisation of much of the world, and the impact of same. This Red C Poll has shown that over half the Irish population do not agree with Ireland's current military relationship with the United States, which sees Shannon Airport used as a forward airbase for the US Military. A Press Conference will be held tomorrow at 2.30pm, in Buswells Hotel, Tuesday 15th March to discuss the findings.

Speaking on the findings of the Poll, Clare Daly TD made the point that - "A country with a policy of positive neutrality would not facilitate the massive, devastating displacement of tens of millions of people through wars whose only purpose is to keep the gears of the military-industrial complex oiled. It would not find itself in a state of absolute moral abjection when it agreed to accept only the tiniest fraction of those made homeless and stateless by wars it had abetted. We need to put meat on the bones of our neutrality, to actively and vigorously work against war and destruction, against the arms trade, against the absolute devastation of so many lives in pursuit of imperial power and wealth? Until we enshrine a policy of neutrality in our Constitution, and make it so that our neutrality is something that is real, positive, and active, we cannot and will not play that role".

Mick Wallace TD stated - "Since 2001, the US Military and their allies have been responsible for the deaths of over 2 million citizens in Afghanistan and Iraq alone. Mindless destruction of the Middle East region & beyond has seen the displacement of over 30 million people and an unprecedented refugee crisis in Europe today. It's long past time that Ireland stopped facilitating this horror by refusing to allow Shannon Airport to be used for any military purposes. We need a change of direction - It should start with the new Government. It's time for Ireland to work for peace, not war."

Mick Wallace Clare Dalysee arrest at Shannon Airport 2014

Ed Horgan of Shannonwatch states that " Shannon airport has been used, or misused by the US military, with the approval of successive Irish Government's since October 2001. In the meantime over three million armed US troops have transited through Shannon on their way to and from wars and military operations in Afghanistan, Iraq, Yemen, Syria and elsewhere. In addition US military aircraft have transported unknown quantities of munitions and other war materials through Shannon airport but the Irish Government has been repeatedly denying that these aircraft are carrying weapons and munitions. Irish neutrality needs to be urgently restored to prevent Irish complicity in crimes against humanity".

Dr John Lannon of the University of Limerick and Shannonwatch stated that - "Ireland's failure to uphold national and international law at Shannon is shameful. The routine transit of armed troops to and from war zones is in contravention of the Hague Convention on Neutrality. The authorities have failed in their responsibilities under the Convention Against Torture by not investigating rendition planes at Shannon. And they also turn a blind eye to the fact that the US military aircraft landing at Shannon are likely to be carrying people who are guilty of war crimes in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere. Under the principle of international jurisdiction, these should be investigated and prosecuted".

Original article Mick Wallace and Clare Daly Shannonwatch
See full 'Neutrality In Ireland' RedC Poll Feb, 2016

Clare Daly and Mick Wallace Standing as Independents and Statement in relation to Right2Change

November 5, 2015

Source: http://claredaly.ie/statement-in-relation-to-right2change/

The magnificent movement of people power which exploded onto the streets across the length and breath of the country in opposition to Irish Water & water charges was an important development in our recent history. It channeled the anger and betrayal felt by citizens after years of neo-liberal policies and austerity budgets, the decimation of public services, & a race to the bottom in wages and conditions. It brought thousands of people into political activity for the first time. It showed that no government can rule without the will of the people, and that protest action can pay.

Against this background we believe that the initiative of the Right2Water unions to try and harness this movement, beyond protests, into a movement for change, was the correct one. We have committed to supporting the policy positions of Right2Change, as a starting point in dismantling the prevailing ideology of the establishment parties who have slavishly implemented economic policies at the behest of the markets.

We believe that society can be organised in a different way, a better way, where the interests of the people are centre stage – the right to housing, a job with decent pay and conditions, access to healthcare when you’re sick, and a pension when you retire. These demands are the bare minimum in a country which has seen the wealth of the top 300 citizens increase by €13.5 billion in the last year alone.

Across our society there is a desperate yearning for change as the parties that have been in power have misused it and a different type of politics must be built. We have pledged to play a part in delivering that, by committing to work with any other parties or individuals who are prepared to break with neo-liberalism, including forming a government, should the numbers allow. We are very clear that we will not play a part in any government with Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael or Labour.

The role of the the media, & some of the political parties involved, in how the Right2Change initiative has been portrayed over the past week is a stark warning to activists in the communities and unions. The Establishment has a vested interest in trying to undermine this project. They will seek to exaggerate division, to portray chaos and incoherence & to misrepresent what is being attempted. This is a sign of their fear but we must not fall for it.

It must also be said that the opportunism of some of the groupings involved, who diverted this project into a dialogue about voting pacts & transfers, and whether they would or wouldn’t be calling for transfers for each other is regrettable. Electoral pacts were never part of any discussions. It will do nothing for the cause if some groups are prepared to put their own party interests, ahead of those of the general movement .That is why we are contesting this election as independents & will work with other like mined individuals to build the type of grass roots, bottom up politics, that bases itself on empowering people to organise for themselves. This is essential if we are to deliver the change that Ireland deserves & yearns on the eve of the 1916 centenary.

Clare Daly & Mick Wallace
Nov 5, 2015