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

Response to Labour TD's call for referendum on privatisation of Irish Water Ltd. Smoke and Mirrors

January 20, 2016

by Buncrana Together

What do Labour TDs, Aodhán Ó Ríordáin, Ciaran Lynch, Michael McNamara, and Emmet Stagg mean by signing a SIPTU petition? This was revealed in the Irish Examiner Wed January 20, 2016. It states that the petition calls for a public vote to ensure that Irish Water remains in public ownership? Was this their 'Road to Damascus' moment where they saw the error of Labour's ways? Maybe it was because they knew something is very iffy with Irish Water's setup and they do not trust their leader Tanaiste Joan Burton. Or was it because Ireland is now close to a general election? What is the full content of SIPTU's petition and do they agree with it? For instance, does SIPTU also want water management to revert back to Local Authorities?

TweedleDum, TweedleDee John Tenniel's illustration, from Through the Looking-Glass (1871) — TweedleDum, TweedleDee John Tenniel's illustration, from *Through the Looking-Glass* (1871)

TweedleDum, TweedleDee and there's too many questions

Can it be that this is the best that some, cap in hand, loyal Labour party members can come up with? And is it the sum of their answer to the complex question of Water Charges, to support an ambiguous referendum? I bet you Fianna Fail and it's possible, even the ultra right-wing Fine Gael party could agree to something like this.

What do they mean really? They need to spell it out. Do they mean that the Irish Water Ltd company should belong to the people of Ireland and run by the state on their behalf, in perpetuity? Do they mean that our water, rivers, lakes seas, reservoirs above and below ground, all infrastructure should belong to the people forever? Something like Aer Lingus, An Post, ESB, Bus Eireann, Bord Na Mona, Coilte, Eircom or maybe our oil, our gas, air, electricity, energy, and so on and so forth, all privatised or in the process of?

And a final question, do they think that water shouldnot be treated as a commodity and sold to those who are able to afford it? Questions, questions and still more questions. Forget the nitty gritty, just support a referendum, sounds good but don't get bogged down in details.

No doubt we will hear the cry of referendum from many parties in the run up to the general election and we will hear the promises after promise that all things will be done for our benefit and on our behalf.

I think it's a smokescreen, smoke and mirrors, a red herring, used by wily politicians to deflect us away from the real issues of the disaster that is Irish Water and camouflage the involvement of Fianna, Fail, Fine Gael, Labour even the Greens, Renua and some right wing Independents in introducing and perpetuating the trick that is Irish Water.

Constitution not worth the paper it is printed on
Is that a sacrilege? Is saying that the Labour Party's nominated President signed Irish Water repressive legislation into Law , a sacrilege? Is saying that the Constitution is not worth the paper it is written on a sacrilege?

Anyway I would like someone to explain what Article 10 of the Irish Constitution really means, or for that mater the whole Constitution itself. Our legislation including this supposedly be-all and end-all of legal arguments , 'Buncreacht Na hEireann'' is full of archaic, convolutedlanguage that only judges, barristers and solicitors, and maybe the multitude of overpaid civil servants and ministers can fathom or seem to understand.

I thought the Irish Constitution already enshrined our national resources as belonging to the people of Ireland. I thought that the Constitution and legislature are there to guarantee the people of Ireland a fundament quality of life. Yea, pull the other one.

Tell that to the people in the Corrib dispute, tell it to those in Save the Foyle, tell it to the Anti Dublin Incinerator Campaign and to all the campaigns the length and breadth of Ireland now and in the past. Ask them how much the Constitution protected or helped them. What about our gas and oil resources given away for nothing? What about the fishermen, the islanders, sitting at home while foreign boats sail back home from our waters laden? Ask them how much the Constitution protected their way of life.

Super dooper whiz kids, the constitution and Irish Water's incomprehensible make-up.

Like the companies mentioned above, some of whom have been sold off, privatised, or are in the process of being flogged, or only still a twinkle in the eye of the IMF, Irish Water is and will be no different. It won't matter about Constitutions or legislation. Some form of wording or legal loopholes or deception will be found to disregard and subvert the Constitution in order to fulfill the requisiteagenda, especially when well off moguls back it with their cash.

As it is it would take a super dooper whiz kid to fathom out the intricate structures of Irish Water and all the aforementioned companies. For example who owns Bord Gais, explain to me how it was sold off, who owns it now and how come the Irish people got left withthe unprofitable bits, the crud.

Not even Eurostat could decipher the structure that is Irish Water. See footnote 8 page 3 of Eurostat Report 'Sector Classification of Irish Water'. I wonder could theLabour Ministers explain the nitty gritty of this to us?

“They maketh as thoughe butter wolde nat melte in their mouthe”

Plans for Water Charges, Irish Water and the relevant legislation have been ongoing since 2000. Ever since the Planning and Development Act came into being. The three main movers and shakers were of course, Fianna Fail, Fine Gael and the Labour Party, each doing their bit in their respective Tweedledum, Tweedledee terms of office.

Not only that but Fine Gael and the Labour Party have been hard at introducing Water Charges as early as 1974. They are sticklers, aren't they, "They maketh as thoughe butter wolde nat melte in their mouthe."

In other words they look you in the eye, cool as a cucumber and tell you that our resources will be enshrined in the constitution. That is not the only little fibs they have been dishing out. All three, deft at politics slowly let our water infrastructure decline by underfunding it and having no long term plans except of course, Irish Water and Water Charges and god knows what else. In the case of Fianna Fail, Water Charges since they want to do away with Irish Water and replace it with, well that is the question. Even in the time of Bertie when the country was awash with 'Cash' nothing was funded properly, Local Authorities, infrastructure, hospitals, education. Now they are telling us that Irish Water isour 'great white hope' for the future.

Water bonanza

Irish Water Ltd structure was a mess to start with and no amount of tinkering will reform it, even if something is mentioned in the Constitution about it. It will not be in the interest of the Irish Public. One thought that comes to mind is; can a company, a private company, or semi privater company or whatever be mentioned in the Constitution? Ah it is ridiculous you would need Article 10 to be as long as your arm. What is the relationship of Veolia Environmental Services, Siteserve (remember Denis O'Brien) or whatever the company is called now, GMC Sierra, and a host of other private companies, with Irish Water and our water resources.

Infrastructure reverted back to Local Authority

There is a major question about ownership of our natural resources, about Article 10. All this talk about referendums would be irrelevant if our water resources and infrastructure reverted back to the local authorities. I would say that could be included in the Constitution. SIPTU members have called for this. The water workers throughout Ireland have first hand knowledge of all water systems and they have a close relationship with the public. They are the public. This is where I am in agreement with SIPTU, a lot of whose members have personally been supportive of the campaign against Water Charges and Irish Water. I hope that the leadership reflect this support from their members.

What is the Water Charges Campaign all about, a referendum?

It is our view that the Water Charges' campaign is not solely about, Irish Water, or Water Charges or related oppressive legislation or a referendum. It encompasses all of these. It is about the fundamental right of every citizen to water which is the basis for life, health and well-being. It is about how water should not be contingent on the ability to pay. It is about the duty of the state to provide this right to every citizen and ensure that water will not be turned into a commodity. It is about the duty of the state to make sure our water and infrastructure remains, in perpetuity, in the hands of the people. As such the introduction of water charges is against this principle. Water Charges should be provided for through general taxation and it is up to the state to make sure that everyone can enjoy an equal opportunity in every facet of life. It is up to the state to provide full employment from which we, as citizens, can contribute our share to help the country grow and pass it on to our children.

Water Meters

The idea of water meters are an anathema. They are not about saving water. They are not about finding leaks. No, they are designed to go hand in hand with privatisation of water. They are designed to turn water into a commodity, to itemise it's use, in short a money making machine. Water meters are just like electricity meters, itemised billing that no one can understand but we all see the bills going up and up. All this and I am not even going to get into the whole sinister area of 'Smart Meters'.

Aodhan, Ciaran, Michael, Emmet what are your thoughts? How do propose that our water will not be privatised and that the present setup is in the interest of the Irish people?