Brid Smith urges support for Right2Water demo Sept 17

In a statement issued by Brid Smith TD, the People Before Profit deputy claimed that Fine Gael are trying to bring back water charges through the back door. The newly elected TD for Dublin South Central said “They lost the election on the issue of water, but instead of listening to the people, they have created an “expert commission” packed full of people who have made their living from charging for water.

Deputy Smith pointed out that already the supposedly independent chair, Joe O’Toole has had to resign over comments in the Irish Examiner where he expressed support for water charges and claimed that that AAA-PBP members are “completely and utterly wrong on the issue”. Deputy Smith claimed that Fine Gael are also trying to hide behind the European Commission, arguing that it is against EU rules to pay for water through direct taxation; this is the same EU that broke its own taxation rules to push €64 billion of private bank debt onto Irish taxpayers. She states further “Fianna Fáil claimed to be against the water charges during the election but are now propping up the government and voting for Fine Gael’s commission rather than abolishing the charges” adding that “To counter this we need to remind Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael that they work for us. People Power has pushed Fine Gael back before and we can do it again, it also forced Fianna Fáil to adopt an anti-water charges position and can force them to keep their election promise to scrap them. The commission is completely biased and must be disbanded.” Smith claims that to get this we need to take to the streets. “The charges are almost defeated,” said Deputy Smith “but we need to keep the pressure on the government. Let’s bury the water charges – I urge everyone to join the Right2Water protest on September 17th”.