The Free Water Protest in Ireland this Weekend

Water, water everywhere, but not a drop to buy.

Irish Water wants to go private, so this will mean that everyone has to pay for water.  The Irish Water protests were headline news in Ireland over the weekend.  Waterford had almost 1000 people standing with umbrellas in the pouring rain to protest the announced water charge.  As I watched, I wondered if anyone thought to collect all the water that was falling and try to sell it back to Irish Water.  But that’s the way my iconoclastic brain works.

At first blush, it is a bit difficult to see what the fuss is about; after all, most of us are used to paying to have water delivered to our faucets.  But on closer inspection, there are some real issues here that would resonate with almost any American who isn’t in Congress.  Ireland it seems has always provided free water.  Much like the Alaska Village Water Program, one of the better government beliefs that people are entitled to safe, clean water.

So back to Ireland, here you are, the little Irish family, cute from freckles to Brogue, and you get this notice saying from now on you will be charged “X” amount for your water every month.  But then you discover that the “X” amount is basically to pay for the people to administer the program.  Yes, you are really not paying for water, hey, the pipes, and infra-structure are unchanged, no, you are paying for the bureaucrats to stuff that bill in the mail every month and send it to you.  And there are a lot of bureaucrats.  Seems you are also paying for their families and their kids and maybe even the kid’s kids.

OK, that’s bad enough, but you’ve been in the EU for 50 years, so you’re used to paying bureaucrats for the time of day, so you think to yourself, everyone has to eat, even the bureaucrats’ kids.

But then, you discover that the chiefs of this money transfer get a bonus, not based on performance mind you, for that would mean developing a system that actually listened to the people and maybe even answered the phone, no they get bonuses based on what other fat cats get.  This is a scam worry of the US Congress.  I wonder why they did not think of it first??.

The simple fact is when government takes 50% of your income to feed itself; it’s too much, no matter what the excuse.  Rich don’t pay; poor don’t pay; only the working people pay.  What a scam.

Author: Richard on Dauntless

I’m an eclectic person, who grew up in New York, lived overseas for many years and have a boat, Dauntless, a 42 foot Kadey Krogen trawler yacht. Dauntless enables me to not only live in many different parts of the world, but to do it in a way that is interesting, affordable, with the added spice of a challenge. Dauntless also allows me to be in touch with nature. As the boat glides through the ocean, you have a sense of being part of a living organism. When dolphins come to frolic, they stay longer if you are out there talking to them, watching them. Birds come by, sometimes looking for a handout; sometimes grateful to find a respite from their long journey. I grew up on the New York waterfront, in the West Village, when everything west of Hudson St. was related to shipping and cargo from around the world. For a kid, it was an exciting place of warehouses, trucks, and working boats of all kinds: tugs and the barges and ships, cargo and passenger, they were pushing around. My father was an electrical engineer, my mother an intellectual, I fell in between. I have always been attracted to Earth’s natural processes, the physical sciences. I was in 8th grade when I decided to be a Meteorologist. After my career in meteorology, my natural interest in earth sciences: geology, astronomy, geography, earth history, made it a natural for me to become a science teacher in New York City, when I moved back to the Big Apple. Teaching led to becoming a high school principal to have the power to truly help kids learn and to be successful not only in school but in life. Dauntless is in western Europe now. In May and June, I will be wrapping up the last two years in northern Europe, heading south to spend the rest of the year in Spain & Portugal. Long term, I’m planning on returning to North American in the fall of 2017 and from there continuing to head west until we’re in Northeast Asia, Japan and South Korea, where we will settle for a bit. But now, my future lies not in NY or even Europe, but back to the water, where at night, when the winds die down, there is no noise, only the silence of the universe. I feel like I am at home, finally. View all posts by Richard on Dauntless