“We have a goal to overturn the law” . After years of austerity, tens of thousands of Irish demonstrated Saturday 21 March in Dublin to protest the government’s decision to charge for tap water, hitherto free.
This gathering, latest in a series that brought together up to tens of thousands of people since September, greatly mobilized. If the Irish police declined to give a figure of participation, the organizers we estimated the number of protesters at 80,000 while the RTE television channel mentioned 30 000 to 40 000 people in the streets of the Irish capital.
The first invoices for the first quarter of the year, should arrive in mailboxes Irish letters next month. For the government, this will introduce the “clarity and accessibility” in the pricing of water.
But Deirdre, a native protester Dublin, it is mostly a measure of austerity too as the country has over 10% unemployment and the return of economic growth, which was 4.8% in 2014, soon to be felt for much of the population.
“It’s not just about water, we already pay our taxes. It is also about cuts in pensions, property taxes. I still have the chance to have my job but there was no salary increase for six years while new taxes, they, have increased “.
Among the protesters were many who waved flags with the colors of the opposition and anti-austerity Sin Fein. Others wore a Greek flag, evoking movement Syriza or supported the antiaustérité Alliance, inspired the movement now head of Greece. The member of the Socialist Party Ruth Coppinger urged the crowd not to pay. “In ten days, every family in this country will receive an invoice. The only way to obtain the removal of this tax is not payable mass “
Read:. In Ireland the dream anti-austerity march Alliance in the footsteps of SYRIZA and Podemos
Dublin pledged to introduce this tax on water through the financial support package from the International Monetary Fund and the European Union adopted in 2010 save its economy from bankruptcy. In November, the government backtracked on some issues, including reducing the amount of the bill claimed to Irish households (which will be between 60 and 160 euros) and renouncing to pay the meter consumed cube. But he refuses to abandon his reform to end an exception to the EU, which dates back to 1997
Read (subscribers edition). Ireland fate Small steps seven years of austerity
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