Cllr Declan Bree, member of Sligo Borough and County Council:

“Councillors involved in the Campaign against Household and Water Taxes are calling on the public to Vote No to the Austerity Treaty because it is clear to us that the Treaty will demand savage austerity measures in the form of over €6 billion extra taxes and cutbacks. This will inevitably mean a massive hike in home and water taxes and further cuts in local services.

When the Fine Gael/Labour coalition took office, commitments were made about significant reform of local government to make it more democratic and more effective in responding to local needs. We were told the position of County Manger would be abolished and replaced with a Chief Executive, with a limited range of executive functions.  However, all that has been delivered is austerity and cutbacks along with threats to abolish rather than empower.

Significant funding normally provided to finance local government is now being re-directed by the government to pay off private debts of speculators and bankers. Money which should be invested in local services, in road networks, in water and waste water infrastructure, in libraries, in sports facilities, in health and education services, is servicing private debt that local councils were not responsible for.

The government tries to justify the new Household and Water charges by stating that ‘we have to pay for local services’.  But we already pay for local services through central taxation, motor taxation, items like planning fees, commercial rates etc.  At Budget meetings of local authorities  council officials clearly stated that the new Tax would not provide additional funds for councils. Managers are warning of further severe cuts in local services. The fact is the charges are part of an austerity strategy to make the mass of the population pay for the economic crisis – and we are saying to people that the Fiscal Treaty, if passed, will institutionalise austerity.  Today, in accordance with the EU/IMF programme, every local council in the country is compelled to submit quarterly reports in a format prescribed by the Troika.

On Referendum Day people will be asked to endorse the Troika’s and Government’s austerity measures, including cuts in local services, cuts in health and education, growing unemployment, bank bailouts and extra taxes in the form of household and water charges.  The ‘Fiscal Treaty’ is a banker’s treaty and the ordinary people of this State can make a resounding statement by rejecting the bank bailout and rejecting austerity by voting ‘No’ on the 31st May.

Cllr Louise Minihan, Dublin City Council:

This is an Austerity Treaty and years of Austerity Budgets have already seen essential public services and vital community and voluntary projects that are the backbone of many communities come under sustained attack. Funding cutbacks have had a devastating effect on such services, from youth to drugs projects, community childcare to CE schemes. In my own community in Ballyfermot, essential local services have had their funding slashed, for example the BCFE crèche essential for the education of many student parents, will be forced to close its doors in July.

Article 3 of the Treaty requires countries to reduce their ‘strucural deficits’ to 0.5%; Article 4 forces countries to pay back debts , that is the bondholders , at an even faster rate. Local councils will be starved of funds and forced to cut services. They will be under pressure to get costs off their books. They will have to offload services they currently provide and to reduce staff numbers. We have seen the disaster nationwide and in Dublin City of the selling off of the refuse collection, where ordinary householders are left to the mercy of private operators like Greyhound to charge whatever they like.

The same is planned for water, a core service provided by local authorities for years. The same European  bureaucrats  who are behind the Treaty have directed that water provision must be taken away from local authorities and charged for, so the Irish government have set up Irish Water, a centralised company. This would be a social disaster with private companies profiteering from a resource that was previously provided by councils. Irish people have a chance to shout stop to this trend by voting No on the Treaty.

Cllr Matt Waine, Fingal County Council:

Local councils had their funding slashed by this government when €170 million was withdrawn last year. This Treaty will lead to more cuts and offloading of services. But the passing of this Treaty would also no doubt be used by politicians as a justification for cuts. If communities protest, the parties behind the Treaty will shrug their shoulders and say ‘it’s the law’. They frequently cite EU law already as justification for property and water charges, for example.

As Councillors who have opposed the Household Tax, we appeal to the one million households who refused to be bullied by the government on the Household Tax  not to be bullied on the Treaty. If those two million people voted against the Treaty, it would be defeated. We would also point out that the government intends to crack down on non- payers of the home taxes and to bring in water metering in the Autumn. A defeat on this Treaty would undermine them in that and would remove any mandate they claim for austerity taxes.

Ends

Cllr Declan Bree 087-2470802; Cllr Louise Minihan 087-2649266; Cllr Matt Waine 087-6684616.

“The CAHWT vows to organise a series of public meetings, protests and an escalation of our campaign should any threatening letters be sent. Those not paying are in a clear majority, as confirmed by figures today. ”

“Today’ s breakdown of registration figures strengthen the boycott of the household tax as they show that several hundred thousand of the 940,000 registered properties are those of multiple owners, developers and landlords. In actual fact, a majority of homeowners are still boycotting the tax,” said Cllr Coppinger.

“A reply to a Dail question reported today in the Irish Times confirms that 88,255 registered two to 10 homes; 1,262 paid on 11 to 20 homes, 279 paid on 21 to 30 homes, while a further 123 paid 31 to 40 homes they own. Three giant landlords or developers registered between 300 and 400 properties. These people should be subject to a real wealth and property tax, not a paltry hundred euro”.

“If you factor in these mutiple owners, it is clear that a big majority of 1.81 million homes that must register have not done so.”

“We call on householders to bear these threats in mind when voting in the Referendum next week — this is what the government has in store if they can get the Treaty safely out of the way,” said Cllr Coppinger.

The agenda is as follows:

10.30-12.30 Session 1 : Policy

12.30-1.15 Lunch

1.15 – 3.15 Session 2: Strategy & Tactics

3.15-5.15 Session 3: Structures & National Steering Cttee

The Campaign Against Household And Water Taxes (CAHWT) has said that attempts to impose water and property taxes on householders will be met with outright opposition in every corner of the state.

No matter whose figures you believe, almost one million households have refused to register for the household tax. If such large numbers of people are willing to put themselves in conflict with the government over a €100 household tax, it’s clear that the government have no hope of imposing property and water taxes which will result in each household having to pay a minimum of €1,000 per year.

Figures released just this week by the Irish League of Credit Unions showed that nearly half of all households have less than €100 left to spend at the end of each month having paid their bills. In addition the “Health Behaviour in School-aged Children” survey stated that one in five Irish children reported going to bed hungry during 2010. Austerity and the imposition of international finance’s gambling debts on the shoulders of ordinary people are having a real impact on people’s living standards. Yet the government seem to think that they will be able to squeeze even more money out of people. They are wrong. People are not going to pay these taxes.

Attempts to portray the water tax as being about water conservation are total nonsense. The creation of the Irish Water company is about paving the way towards privatisation of our water services. It is a demand of the troika and a long sought-after wish of big business. If the tax is successfully imposed, the next step will be to sell off the service, just as has happened with the bin collection service. The experience of the privatisation of Eircom whereby the extraction of profit became more important than the development of services and has ultimately resulted in the company going into examinership show the inevitable result of the policy of privatisation.

The experiences of Britain where water services have been privatised should also serve as a warning. Profits for shareholders have become much more important than investment in water services. Charges increase year on year and in many areas people regularly face water shortages.

The introduction of water meters will not solve the problem of water wastage. Most water wastage is as a result of leaks in a pipe system that needs huge investment to make it fit for purpose. Somewhere between 40 and 50 percent of all water currently leaks from the faulty pipe system. The fitting of water meters in people’s homes will do nothing to solve this problem. If water conservation was truly the objective it would make much more sense both economically and socially to invest in fixing these leaky pipes – creating much needed employment.

Water is of course a finite resource. However there is no evidence from international comparisons that the fitting of meters or the imposition of charges has much impact on usage levels. The fixing of the leaks combined with a major public education programme would have a much greater effect.

The bottom line is that both the property tax and water tax are unenforceable and uncollectable. In the 1990s the Federation of Dublin Anti Water Charge Campaigns, and community campaigns around the country, fought a successful campaign which forced the abolition of water charges. That campaign united people to support each other. Local campaigns and protests ensured that in all but a tiny handful of cases attempts to disconnect water were successfully resisted. In the few cases where water was disconnected, campaigners re-connected the water supply to those homes within hours.

When the then ‘rainbow coalition’ government tried taking people to court, the campaign organised to ensure legal representation and support for non-payers. The court system was made unworkable because we challenged and defended each case, but also because we turned court appearances into opportunities for massive public protest. People turned out in their hundreds to support their neighbours and it proved impossible for anything more than a tiny fraction of people to be taken to court. Eventually the government was forced to abolish the charges.

Over the last couple of months the Campaign Against Household And Water Taxes has firmly established itself in every corner of Ireland . Mass non-registration for the household tax is a fact. This means that we are in a far stronger position than we were in the 1990s. The battle against property and water taxes starts from a position of having an organised presence in practically every community. Having stood together, got organised and seen that we can build such a campaign, people have now got a much greater sense of their own strength.

People now know that we don’t have to accept the austerity agenda, that by organising together we can resist it. People know that there is strength in numbers – that strength will be brought to bear on the attempts to impose these taxes. It seems that the government is hell-bent on provoking a confrontation with the people. The people are ready for that confrontation and we will win.”

Like many other issues Labour when in opposition gave some serious hostages to fortune. Deputy Joanna Tuffy for example speaking on behalf of her party in December 2009 responded to the then Minister Gormley’s announcement regarding the installation of water meters by saying that the introduction of domestic water taxes would increase inequality.

In making their chaotic announcements this week the government have shown no regard for the evidence presented to the Oireachtas Environmnet Committee by various experts who contested the claims by this government over the cost of water metering and the extent to which it impacts on consumption. The government by making these announcements before the Oireachtas sub committee has issued its findings on the case for water metering exposes the reality that the committee system is a sham.

See the full, original, FAQ here.

Cork buses leaving Patrick’s Quay 9am sharp. 10 euro per person, book by wednesday. Contact 0831006654

Laois Bus leaving Rathdowney at 9am, collection points, Abbeyliex 9.30, Portlaoise 9.50, (Portarlington 10.10), Mountmellick 10.10 or 10.30. Cost €12 return. Contact 0872447337

North Leitrim Ring 0876373810

Limerick contact Pat on 0861932450

Donegal leaving Ramelton Co Donegal at8 am picking up in Letterkenny , Ballybofey and Donegal Town .To book a seat or more info contact -Patrick 0879774603

Carlow Bus seats are €20 each and are available at: David Bradshaw’s Barber Shop, Tullow St, Carlow. Or can be booked through: Eoghan (Carlow) on 087 948 1399 or Martin (Bagenasltown) 087 951 5215

Other areas contact the hotline on 1890 98 98 00 or email contact@nohouseholdtax.org

Agency continues to spin numbers of houses required to register:

“The LGMA continues to use figures that are seriously distorted in order to make the percentage of householders registering and paying look better than the reality. Today’s Agency figures flatter to deceive,” said Ruth Coppinger of the CAHWT.

“LGMA Chief Executive, Paul McSweeney, on radio claims that the 1,654,208 households recorded in the 2011 census justifies the Government figure of 1.6 million households being required to pay the tax. However the legislation requires that, not households, but houses must be registered. Therefore the figures worked out by Robert Kitchin of Maynooth College and based on Census 2011 are far more credible. Those figures show almost 2 million houses, and leaving out local authority houses and other categories which do not have to be registered, give a figure of about 1.8 million required to be registered.”

“Resistance to the Home Tax remains at a major level. Considering that many of those who have registered and paid did so out of fear and feeling coerced, the government should realise it faces a fight here that it cannot win and should now reconsider and abolish the tax,” said Ruth Coppinger.

Saturday 14th April 1pm Galway

There will be a protest of the campaign at the Labour Party National conference on April 14th at 1pm in Galway City.We hope to send the message of opposition to the Household Charge as clearly to Labour as we did to Fine Gael last weekend.

Local buses will be organised to the protest, please get in touch with your local campaign organisers to book your place.

Carlow

Paddy 085 1017344 or paddydel@gmail.com

Wicklow

Niamh 086-8641599

More local bus details will be added as they come in.

a) required to register  b) numbers registered and c) numbers  paid.

In recent days there is widespread manipulation of figures to make the Government position look a little less dreadful.

The baseline figure for registration is 1.8 million NOT the 1.6 million which is being used in the last few days. Therefore as of last night the numbers recorded (482,000) as having registered is 27 % of the 1.8 million. This leaves more than 1.3 million who have not registered or 73%.

Keep Up The Boycott:

We urge the ordinary people all over the country to keep up the huge Boycott of the Household Tax which is their rejection, not just of a new tier of taxation which will quickly go to €1,000 but of the disastrous policy of Austerity which is wrecking our society.

 Support for Protest March to Fine Gael Ard Fheis this Saturday Starting at the Garden of Remembrance at 1.00PM

We fully support the demonstration on Saturday and believe that a major, well disciplined and peaceful demonstration of people power will be further evidence of the strength of the Campaign. We call on all those who support the Campaign to attend with their families for a genuine show of the real feelings of the majority of ordinary people in this country.

We now demand that the Government withdraw the Household Tax forthwith and cease bullying the decent majority of our people who have financed this State for decades while rich elites cheated.

Signed

Luke ‘Ming’ Flanagan TD

Mick Wallace TD

John Halligan TD

Thomas Pringle TD

Richard Boyd Barrett TD

Seamus Healy TD

Joan Collins TD

Clare Daly TD

Joe Higgins TD