Ireland Privatizes Its Municipal Water Systems
The NPRF was raided quite some time ago, and Lenihan was using it to warehouse payments to bondholders. Effectively, he took whatever money was in the pension funds at the major universities and some other quangos and stuffed it into the NPRF, and from there paid it on to the Anglo bondholders. Interestingly, there wasn't a peep out of the universities about this half-inching of their pension funds, and the reason for that was that Lenihan guaranteed the pensions would be paid out of the day-to-day running expenses of the country by way of Oireachtas Grant In Aid procedures. So there was a double whammy for the taxpayers there. The pension funds to meet university pensions were given away to bondholders, and the cost of paying pension commitments dumped straight onto the taxpayer's bill. This will have appealed to Lenihan because it was a financial poison pill in the system, the fallout of which would have to be paid out of tax revenue by the succeeding governments. I'm watching for any whinges out of the university sector about cuts and will be asking why the university administrators stayed silent when this bill landed on the taxpayers and never said a word in public about it. When they come looking for sympathy over cuts in salary, they'll get short shrift here. [Source]
Austerity measures imposed by the ruling elite have worsened the chronic underfunding of public services in Ireland. Under the pressure of the troika, the Fine Gael-Labour coalition is working systematically to slash state spending and privatise what is left of publicly owned utilities. Plans have already been implemented to sell off the profitable parts of Bord Gáis Éireann, the state-owned power company, and there is speculation that with the imposition of water charges, similar moves could take place with the water agency. [Source, May 12, 2013]
State-owned Bord Gais Energy has been formally put up for sale, becoming the first state asset to be auctioned off under the 'New Era' privatisation scheme. Bord Gais Networks, which owns the country's gas distribution infrastructure, is not for sale. The sale of Bord Gais Energy is expected to be followed by sales of some ESB power stations, much of the state forestry agency Coillte, and the government shareholding in Aer Lingus. All of the disposals are being handled by the New Era agency, on behalf of the Government. The hope is to raise around €3bn from the privatisation programme. New Era has hired A&L Goodbody and Barclays Capital to advise it on the Bord Gais Energy sale. [Independent.ie, February 15, 2103]
Irish Water is Ireland’s new national water utility that is responsible for providing and developing water services throughout Ireland. Incorporated in July 2013, as a semi-state company [public-private partnership] under the Water Services Act 2013, Irish Water will bring the water and wastewater services of the 34 Local Authorities in Ireland together under one national service provider. Irish Water will gradually take over the responsibilities from these Local Authorities on a phased basis from January 2014. It will take approximately five years for Irish Water to be fully established. Irish Water is a registered subsidiary company of Bord Gáis Éireann. [Irish Water's parent company, Ervia, was formerly known as Bord Gáis]. Ireland is currently the only country in the OECD that does not have domestic water charges. [Source]
President Higgins ignored pleas and signed the Water Services Bill of 2014 into law. Mr Higgins has also rejected an earlier call from Sinn Féin to put the issue to the people in a referendum saying that such a course of action was not permitted by the Constitution. A statement from Áras an Uachtaráin yesterday said: “President Michael D Higgins, having given careful consideration to all aspects of the Bill and the submissions he received, today signed the Water Services Bill 2014.” People will now be required to pay €260 a year for water in cases of households with more than one person and €160 where there is just one person in a house. All complying householders will be entitled to a €100 a year rebate from the Department of Social Welfare even in cases where the water charges do not apply. [Source, December 29, 2014]
The proposed water services allowance of 30,000 litres per year has been abolished. Instead, the charges are being capped and the rate per 1,000 litres of water has been reduced from €4.88 to €3.70. While the meter will measure your water usage, your quarterly bill will be capped at a maximum rate for your household type, so you will not have to pay any more than this capped rate. The capped charges will apply until 31 December 2018. Legislation is planned so that charges from 2019 onwards can continue to be subject to caps and allowances. There is no change at present in the charging system for people on group water schemes or for commercial users. [Source]
Tens of thousands of people took to the streets of Dublin crying foul over planned new water charges. It was the latest in a series of protests described as the biggest protests in Ireland for years. Until now water has been funded by general taxation. The new charges are part of government austerity measures to help Ireland repay its international bailout. Last month the Irish government reduced the levels it plans to charge and promised to keep water rates low. But the issue has touched a raw nerve among austerity-weary people. Many argue they already pay for water through tax. [Source, January 28, 2015]
The scheme behind Agenda 21 is to implement a New World Order by:
1. Controlling the water,
2. Abolishing private property,
3. Reducing human population, and
4. Then controlling the people.
Because multinational corporations now realize that water scarcity and pollution are going to define the 21st century, a huge movement is taking place to commodify and privatize ownership of water. Poised to capitalize on this crisis are giant “corporate water bandits,” multinationals who are searching the planet for opportunities to turn the misery of water-starved regions into profits for their executives and stockholders. Both the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund strongly encourage the governments of developing countries to sell to private, multi-national companies the rights to deliver essential services, such as water, to the population.
The world’s water supply is fast falling prey to corporate desire for the bottom line. In the U.S., the National Association of Water Companies lobbied hard to push the Water Quality Investment Act through Congress [this bill was passed by the House on March 12, 2009 but was never passed by the Senate]. It contained a provision that required cities to “consider” privatizing their water systems before receiving any federal support for upgrading or expanding municipal water systems. This boondoggle would spend your local taxes to offer your water for sale to private corporations, or else the city could be sued.
Once a government agency hands over its water system to a private company, withdrawing from the agreement borders on the impossible. Water prices usually rise shortly after privatization -- sometimes dramatically. Privately-owned water utilities charge customers significantly higher rates than those publicly owned: up to 50 percent more, according to Food & Water Watch, which compared rates charged by publicly and privately owned utilities in California, Illinois, Wisconsin, and New York.
“The private water companies in the U.S. cost, on average, 80 percent more than public water utilities in providing water. And although private municipal water systems are regulated at the state level, the public service commissions at the state level often rubber-stamp rate increases, and allow companies to make profits, which require dramatic rate increases.” [Source]Thirteen percent of U.S. municipal water systems have been privatized already, mostly turned over to European multinational companies with misleading names such as American Water Works and United Water.
Water corporations have identified United States public systems as potentially profitable. These are United Water, a subsidiary of the French company Suez Environment, American Water, and Siemens from Germany which acquired US Filter Corps from French Veolia Environment and runs it under the Siemens name.
In the United States, the big commercial players in the field of water privatization include:
- Veolia Water North America, a subsidiary of France’s Veolia Environment. According to the organization’s Web site, the North American division serves more than 14 million people in 650 communities “through public-private partnerships with municipalities or governments,” and is involved in the nation’s largest public-private water services partnership in Indianapolis;
- United Water, a subsidiary of France’s Suez Environnement, which serves more than seven million people in 24 states and operates 240 municipal water systems, including three of the nation’s largest contract services operations;
- American Water Works Company, Inc., which was owned by German conglomerate RWE until last November and currently serves 15 million people in 32 states as well as Ontario, Canada; and
- Aqua America, which provides water and wastewater services to approximately three million people in 13 states.
Thousands protest post-bailout water charges in Ireland
January 31, 2015AFP - Thousands took to the streets of Ireland Saturday to protest against the introduction of water charges as part of its bailout following the 2008 financial crisis.
In Dublin, an AFP reporter said several thousand people turned out to protest while thousands more joined demonstrations in other cities including Galway on the west coast.
Organisers said they were expecting some 20,000 people in total.
Dublin committed to charging households for water as part of its EU-IMF bailout, announced in 2010, but opposition against the fees has surged ahead of the first bills being sent out in April.
Ireland exited its bailout a year ago and is forecast to be the fastest-growing economy in the EU for 2014 and this year, but unemployment remains well above ten percent.
In November, Prime Minister Enda Kenny's coalition government, which came to power in 2011, slashed the charges in the wake of the protests, but opposition remains.
Protestors in the Irish capital chanted:
"No way, we won't pay" and "The banks got bailed out, we got sold out."
Others carried posters calling for Kenny to resign.
"It's time for this government to stand down. They no longer have a mandate from the people, it's time for them to go," Derek Byrne of the Dublin Says No group, one of the protest's organisers, told AFP.
Under the old system, water was paid for through general taxation and services were operated by local authorities."The movement has developed into more than just about water, it's about everything -- austerity, the bank bailout, all the cutbacks."
A spokesperson for the minister of the environment, Alan Kelly, who is spearheading the changes, told AFP there would be "absolutely no change in the government's position."
Related:"We have listened to people's concerns and addressed them, and people have certainty, clarity and affordability for charges," he added.
- The Right to Water and Privatisation in Ireland
- Water supply and sanitation in the Republic of Ireland
- The hidden depths of the water charge
- Irish Water and Ervia directors to reapply for jobs when boards merge
- A New Era in Irish Water Management, Seminar
- 'New Era' under way as Bord Gais Energy finally put on market
No comments:
Post a Comment