New Events

National

no events posted in last week

Blog Feeds

Anti-Empire

Anti-Empire

offsite link The Wholesome Photo of the Month Thu May 09, 2024 11:01 | Anti-Empire

offsite link In 3 War Years Russia Will Have Spent $3... Thu May 09, 2024 02:17 | Anti-Empire

offsite link UK Sending Missiles to Be Fired Into Rus... Tue May 07, 2024 14:17 | Marko Marjanović

offsite link US Gives Weapons to Taiwan for Free, The... Fri May 03, 2024 03:55 | Anti-Empire

offsite link Russia Has 17 Percent More Defense Jobs ... Tue Apr 30, 2024 11:56 | Marko Marjanović

Anti-Empire >>

The Saker
A bird's eye view of the vineyard

offsite link Alternative Copy of thesaker.is site is available Thu May 25, 2023 14:38 | Ice-Saker-V6bKu3nz
Alternative site: https://thesaker.si/saker-a... Site was created using the downloads provided Regards Herb

offsite link The Saker blog is now frozen Tue Feb 28, 2023 23:55 | The Saker
Dear friends As I have previously announced, we are now “freezing” the blog.  We are also making archives of the blog available for free download in various formats (see below). 

offsite link What do you make of the Russia and China Partnership? Tue Feb 28, 2023 16:26 | The Saker
by Mr. Allen for the Saker blog Over the last few years, we hear leaders from both Russia and China pronouncing that they have formed a relationship where there are

offsite link Moveable Feast Cafe 2023/02/27 ? Open Thread Mon Feb 27, 2023 19:00 | cafe-uploader
2023/02/27 19:00:02Welcome to the ‘Moveable Feast Cafe’. The ‘Moveable Feast’ is an open thread where readers can post wide ranging observations, articles, rants, off topic and have animate discussions of

offsite link The stage is set for Hybrid World War III Mon Feb 27, 2023 15:50 | The Saker
Pepe Escobar for the Saker blog A powerful feeling rhythms your skin and drums up your soul as you?re immersed in a long walk under persistent snow flurries, pinpointed by

The Saker >>

Lockdown Skeptics

The Daily Sceptic

offsite link News Round-Up Sat Jul 27, 2024 01:48 | Toby Young
A summary of the most interesting stories in the past 24 hours that challenge the prevailing orthodoxy about the ?climate emergency?, public health ?crises? and the supposed moral defects of Western civilisation.
The post News Round-Up appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

offsite link Judges Told to Avoid Saying ?Asylum Seekers? and ?Immigrants? Fri Jul 26, 2024 17:00 | Toby Young
A new edition of the Equal Treatment Bench Book instructs judges to avoid terms such as 'asylum seekers', 'immigrant' and 'gays', which it says can be 'dehumanising'.
The post Judges Told to Avoid Saying ?Asylum Seekers? and ?Immigrants? appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

offsite link The Intersectional Feminist Rewriting the National Curriculum Fri Jul 26, 2024 15:00 | Toby Young
Labour has appointed Becky Francis, an intersectional feminist, to rewrite the national curriculum, which it will then force all schools to teach. Prepare for even more woke claptrap to be shoehorned into the classroom.
The post The Intersectional Feminist Rewriting the National Curriculum appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

offsite link Government Has Just Declared War on Free Speech Fri Jul 26, 2024 13:03 | Toby Young
The Government has just announced it intends to block the Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Act, effectively declaring war on free speech. It's time to join the Free Speech Union and fight back.
The post Government Has Just Declared War on Free Speech appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

offsite link I Wrote an Article for Forbes Defending J.D. Vance From Accusations of ?Climate Denialism?. Forty Ei... Fri Jul 26, 2024 11:00 | Tilak Doshi
On July 18th, Dr Tilak Doshi wrote an article for Forbes defending J.D. Vance from accusations of 'climate denialism'. 48 hours later, Forbes un-published the article. Read the article on the Daily Sceptic.
The post I Wrote an Article for Forbes Defending J.D. Vance From Accusations of ?Climate Denialism?. Forty Eight Hours Later, Forbes Un-Published the Article and Sacked Me as a Contributor appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

Lockdown Skeptics >>

Voltaire Network
Voltaire, international edition

offsite link Netanyahu soon to appear before the US Congress? It will be decisive for the suc... Thu Jul 04, 2024 04:44 | en

offsite link Voltaire, International Newsletter N°93 Fri Jun 28, 2024 14:49 | en

offsite link Will Israel succeed in attacking Lebanon and pushing the United States to nuke I... Fri Jun 28, 2024 14:40 | en

offsite link Will Netanyahu launch tactical nuclear bombs (sic) against Hezbollah, with US su... Thu Jun 27, 2024 12:09 | en

offsite link Will Israel provoke a cataclysm?, by Thierry Meyssan Tue Jun 25, 2024 06:59 | en

Voltaire Network >>

Water Commission a trick to leave the door open for water charges – Attempt to let Fianna Fail off the hook

category national | bin tax / household tax / water tax | press release author Wednesday November 30, 2016 22:58author by pbp Report this post to the editors

Any ‘Bertie-Style stroke’ by Michael Martin to replace water charges with a new tax will be opposed

Press Release - 30th Nov 2016

At a press conference this morning on the Dail Plinth, AAA-PBP TDs reacted to the findings of the Expert Commission on Water Charges.

Paul Murphy TD said “The report by the Expert Commission is a political fudge to allow Fine Gael to claim water charges are still in place and for Fianna Fail to say that water charges are gone.

“The report acts as a Trojan Horse to allow for the future re-introduction of water charges. The idea of ‘excessive usage’ and a free allowance keeps the principle of paying for water in place.
aaa_pbp_outside_dail.jpg

“It makes no financial sense to keep a charging regime in place if it is only for a tiny minority of people unless they intend to charge a broader layer of people in future through reducing the allowance and increasing charges as happened with the bin charges.

“The water metering programme should now be halted immediately. It has been a waste of half a billion which could have been invested in fixing pipes or locating leaks on a district level.

“The anti-water charges movement demanded the full abolition of charges not their amendment. If they accept this report Fianna Fail will have broken their election pledge, people should get ready for further protests.”

Bríd Smith said, “The expert commission report is merely a method to try to get water charges in the back door. It is a scam that the Irish people will not accept.

“90 TDs were elected on a mandate of scrapping water charges. Fianna Fail made a commitment in their election manifesto to scrap water charges and this commission is designed to let them off the hook.

“The Right2Water parties and unions will be meeting to discuss preparations for a big mobilisation on the streets in the New Year to remind the government and Fianna Fail that water charges are to go in their entirety.

“On the same day that we receive this report we have also found out that Ceribus paid €1,900in tax. If we have applied the 12.5% tax rate we would have collected €9 million.”

Mick Barry TD said “It is incredible for Fianna Fail to try to claim that they have abolished water charges while at the same time Michael Martin is reported to be proposing a sneaky plan to roll it into the property tax. Rather than abolishing the charge it amounts to a ‘we will get you one way or the other approach’ – a Bertie style stroke.

“Any attempt to impose a new ‘dedicated tax’ on working class people will be opposed by the movement. Fianna Fail will put themselves in the cross-hairs of the anti-water charges movement if they try to do anything like this – simply replacing one tax with another.

“Minister Simon Coveney has said that he plans to pursue non-payers – that will pit him against 73% of the population who boycotted the last bill. Rather than staging a last stand, he should instead reimburse people who paid.

“A national demonstration in the New Year is already being discussed to maximise the pressure on Fianna Fail to fully abolish the charge and to back off on any plans for a new tax.”

Richard Boyd Barrett said “There is nothing expert about this report it is just an enormous political fudge- the role of which is to save the political blushes of Fianna Fail and Fine Gael and allow for the return of water charges at some point in the future.

“People should not be fooled by this con trick or the spin and media management of this issue that we have seen for the last couple of days. The early leaking of the report was a deliberate ploy by Fianna Fail and Fine Gael to manipulate opinion and make it appear the whole issue was done and dusted.

“We have been down this road with water charges where there were promises of waivers and keeping charges low. The waivers soon disappeared and charges rocketed. We will not be fooled again.

“We will be urging people to take to the streets again early in the new year to say to Fine Gael and Fianna Fail that water charges must go.

“What we need is a major investment programme in actually fixing the water infrastructure and encouraging real conservation.”

Related Link: http://www.peoplebeforeprofit.ie/2016/11/water-commission-a-trick-to-leave-the-door-open-for-water-charges-attempt-to-let-fianna-fail-off-the-hook/
© 2001-2024 Independent Media Centre Ireland. Unless otherwise stated by the author, all content is free for non-commercial reuse, reprint, and rebroadcast, on the net and elsewhere. Opinions are those of the contributors and are not necessarily endorsed by Independent Media Centre Ireland. Disclaimer | Privacy