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No democratic mandate for water charges
We Won't Pay Campaign, Press Release 1 July 09
The anti-water charges We Won’t Pay Campaign has responded to speculation that water charges may be introduced next year by warning the Northern Ireland Executive that they “will be met with mass civil disobedience if water charges are imposed on people.”
Gary Mulcahy, spokesperson for the anti-water charges campaign added “There is no mandate to introduce water charges. It would be totally undemocratic to impose this tap tax on households. At the last Assembly elections the politicians were left in no doubt that people are strongly opposed to water charges.
“The Executive is paying millions of taxpayers money to private companies which have taken over important parts of the water service. This supply should be cut off and the creeping privatisation of the service should be reversed by terminating the Alpha and Omega PPP contracts. This would save millions and could be invested into the service instead of benefiting big business.
“People are already struggling to pay existing bills without having to worry about a new water bill. It is completely unacceptable for the Executive to impose this additional charge on people, especially since we already pay for water.
“If the Executive announces that water charges are to be introduced, we will determinedly campaign in the communities to build an organised ‘We Won’t Pay’ boycott of these charges.”
Water charges plans sinking into defeat
By Gary Mulcahy, We Won’t Pay Campaign, May 2009
The planned introduction of household water charges next April looks to be in serious doubt. It seems the parties in the Executive have privately admitted to themselves that they haven’t a hope of making people pay, despite their best efforts to disguise the introduction in some form next year.
The mass opposition to the charges and the support for mass non-payment which has been built by the We Won’t Pay Campaign has not dissipated. In fact with record job losses and falling incomes, the potential for mass non-payment is now greater than ever. It is this fact which has led the Executive parties to realise if they go ahead with their plans to introduce water charges next year, they face almost certain defeat.
So the tune has changed in recent weeks. Minister for Finance & Personnel Nigel Dodds claimed in April “it is impossible at a time of great economic hardship and challenges for businesses and communities and hardworking families that you could impose these kinds of burdens on people.”
It was the We Won’t Pay Campaign which beat the arguments of direct rule Ministers that people in Northern Ireland do not pay for water. The parties in Stormont had to accept that households already paid for water through the rates. This fact has also restricted their ability to justify water charges as they would need to be seen to reduce rates, which is now virtually ruled out given the Executive’s fiscal crisis.
Minister for Regional Development Conor Murphy has proposed to the Executive that water charges be deferred, yet again, until 2012 (after the next Assembly elections). The We Won’t Pay Campaign has called for the Executive to formally announce the scrapping of water charges. It has now been proven that water charges are not needed to secure funding for the water service. The reason for water charges was never about funding the service. The real reason was to prepare a revenue flow so the water service could be privatised. If a decision is taken to defer water charges yet again, the We Won’t Pay Campaign can proudly proclaim a great victory.