Right2Water Donegal have today called for an immediate general election in response to this morning’s news that unpaid water bills may be taken from wages and social welfare.
Minister Alan Kelly made the announcement this morning that the coalition were considering introducing legislation to recoup unpaid water charges from direct income to the household. This would include direct reductions in wages and social welfare payments.
Speaking this afternoon, Right2Water Donegal PRO Gary Doherty said “this is a crude and despicable measure for the Government to even consider. To impose their will on the people of this country in such a manner will cause untold anger and hurt. It is time for Fine Gael and Labour to put these decisions to the people and let democracy decide whether this is imposed on our people. It is time to call a general election.
He continued “what makes the announcement this morning even more galling was that Minister Kelly admitted that some people could not afford to pay the water charges and would be accomodated with ‘payment plans’. That is the message that Right2Water have preached all along, that many people simply cannot afford to pay for water. For Labour to admit this while bringing int these measures will surely signal the death knell for that party.
“Labour in Ireland was founded by James Connolly and Jim Larkin to represent the workers of Ireland. This modern incarnation have betrayed the memory of these heroic patriots and patrons of the working class.”
He continued “the current Government tried to claim that the anti-water charges movement had lost momentum and that the people were coming with them. 87,000 people attended Saturday’s Right2Water demonstration in Dublin. This is the largest protest movement in the history of the modern Irish State. We in Right2Water Donegal send our own message to the Government, ‘We will not be defeated, and our campaign will only end when this Governement is gone, Irish Water is gone, and water charges are gone’.”
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