Contrary to what this government would have people think, Ireland does indeed have an exemption from domestic water metering and charging as defined in the EU Water Framework Directive (Article 9.4). This was brokered by the Irish government back in 2000, as a result of the massive and successful resistance throughout the 1990s to the attempt then to impose water charges, forcing the government of the day into a full retreat.

People Before Profit expresses solidarity with teachers striking today.

Government plan to collect water charges from private tenants through private landlords will worsen already disastrous housing crisis

In a statement, Richard Boyd Barrett has called on the government to hold an emergency debate on housing and homelessness in the Dail this week, following the tragic discovery this morning of a dead homeless man in a doorway on Molesworth St, opposite the Dail.

Leaving lead pipes in the system is bad practice and it introduces lead into the water causing health problems, notes Cllr Andrew Keegan.

The government is on the run and is desperately trying to get us to buy into water charges. They have cut the charges to take off the heat but as soon as the protest movement dies down, they can be increased again.

We should keep up the pressure until water charges are scrapped.

How often have you heard the line, ’the country cannot afford it’? Or plaintive cries about how the wealthy lost everything in the great Celtic Tiger crash.

Embedded video of Brid Smith speaking at Dublin City Council about the budget and Sinn Fein's Response;

Water Charges Song at 1st November 2014 Protest

Words are cheap and so the Labour Minister, Alan Kelly, and Irish Water’s John Tierney were told by their PR advisors to say ‘sorry’. But the overall message from the FG-Labour government is that we are still going to try and bully you.