PBPA TD says Irish Water fiasco should end after ruling by EU statistics body

In a statement, Richard Boyd Barrett TD, for the People Before Profit Alliance and a member of the steering group of Right2Water has said the decision by Eurostat that Irish Water must remain on the state balance sheet has exposed the ludicrous financial structure of the water utility and removed yet another of the claimed reasons for its existence.

Deputy Boyd Barrett said also that the Eurostat ruling confirmed what opponents of water charges and Irish Water have warned all along, that for the government’s off-balance sheet strategy to work in the long-run, household charges would have to be increased to several times their current level and the utility would have to be privatised.

Deputy Boyd Barrett said following the ruling, “the government should now end the Irish water fiasco, abolish the water charges and dismantle the failed entity that is Irish Water.”

He said that the ruling should give further confidence to the campaign of opposition and boycott against water charges that water charges could be defeated over the coming months.

Richard Boyd Barrett said:

“Eurostat have confirmed what those of us opposing water charges and Irish water have been saying all along – namely that for the government’s famous off-balance sheet trickery to work, Irish water would have to massively increase water charges in future years and ultimately the utility would have to be privatised. Since the very beginning, we have warned this is what would happen in the future and Eurostat’s ruling confirms that. The ludicrous financial structure of Irish water has been exposed as the scam and deception we said it was – a Trojan horse to get water charges in at relatively low-level before ratcheting the charges up over future years and screwing hard-pressed householders even more.

Irish water has been revealed yet again as total fiasco and failed entity that has no reason to exist, other than to open the door to privatisation of our water resources, which of course, is the government’s real plan.

However, the ruling today should give the massive and growing campaign of opposition and boycott confidence that we can defeat the government on this issue, and force the abolition of water charges and dismantling of Irish water.”