Opinion: The Irish Water disaster will bring down the government, writes Vincent Maguire – TheLiberal.ie – Our News, Your Views

Opinion: The Irish Water disaster will bring down the government, writes Vincent Maguire




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The Irish Water debacle which has occurred over the past couple of months has almost reached a climax. I say almost because December 10th is a big day.

Those supporting water charges declare broken pipes, maintenance and water shortages are the main reasons behind the tax. Those opposing it say it’s merely another tax imposed by Europe and that water is a God given right. The latter’s argument is the one I personally endorse.

Regardless of the fact that taxing water is basically the same as taxing the air we breathe, the government has made nothing short of an atrocious shambles of the whole thing. Between putting their feet in it, to not knowing the minimum wage, this is the metaphorical straw that has broken the public’s back.

We are sick of politicians on absurd salaries implementing what they see as meagre taxes. Fine Gael and Labour may have inherited a brutal situation, but they never led from the front. They were told what to do by European overlords.

But make no mistake, Sinn Fein and the Socialists would be as bad if not worse. Some of their economic policies are beyond laughable. They all want to “tax the rich” – can someone please tell both parties that there’s damn all rich people left in this country. Besides, such an act only kills incident and penalizes people for actually going out and working hard.

We need a new form of politics, one that serves the Irish people, not the government or Europe.

This latest misadventure will inevitably bring down this government. Labour or indeed Fine Gael backbenchers will start to defect or pull out. A general election is nearing the offing, but it really depends on December 10th. More than 100,000 people need to again march the streets in disgust at these charges. The government will have to realise it no longer has a mandate and some non-entity TDs will start to sweat.

The power is with the people, we have already made them pull back on the price, we now need a full eradication of this immoral tax.

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