Water Protest today in Galway.

[eamo1]

There will be a protest held outside city hall this evening at around 6pm to highlight the disgracefull situation that galway's citizens are putting up with.The Green Party mayor has promised to suspend the city council meeting and bring them outside to listen to the protestors views.
so basically everyone knows we cant drink tap water and are forced to boil or buy bottled water.But did ye also know that:
(1)We are still paying water rates even though we cant drink the water.
(2)The government is making money from the VAT on each bottle of water(estimated at 1.5million euros a week).
(3)Each bottle is adding to the weight of our bins and here in Galway its pay by weight for each bin.
So you can see why we are slightly pi**ed at the situation.

[eamo1]

I meant to say the protestors will be leaving empty bottles of water outside city hall today.We wont have water pistols and hoses and try and soak the Council officals.Thats what i meant by "water protest" before any of ye smart ar*es reply to the heading:cool: .

[Conor H]

That jackass of a Mayor o Brollachain is a right gombean.

Blaming the Governemnt for the last 2 months while they've still done nothing about it.
It's a disgrace but you wouldn't expect anything but incompotence with the fruits that are on the City Council.

They've also refused the Army's offer of supplying Water.:rolleyes:

[Lim till i die]

Anybody else see the irony in a Green Party mayor ballsing up the enviroment?

Let this be a lesson to everyone Never to let them near government

[finlma]

That jackass of a Mayor o Brollachain is a right gombean.


I'd have to disagree - he's the best mayor for Galway in a long time. Better than the Fianna Fail monkeys any day. The water problem goes back way further than when he came to power and I think he's doing the best he can given the situation.

[Conor H]

The best?:D

He's consistently whining about it alright but what has he actually done?

It took them 6 weeks to subcidise the water aswell.They also were told about this problem almost a year before it arose.

Considering he's a Green you'd have thought he'd have acted back then or at least put the Council under more pressure.

[dahamsta]

I agree with Lim til i die on this one, the greens are useless at anything but bitching about everyone else. Put them on the spot and/or tell them to come up with an alternative and they mutter and mumble and procrastinate until they waddle back into their default bitching mode. The other main parties might not be much better, but even bloody Sinn Fein has a better plan than the Greens. And SF's is scribbled on the back of a beermat.

[pete]

I don't know what the make up of the Galway City Council (or is it called County Council?) but I can't see how this mess is directly the fault of the government. Surely the City Council are to blame?

:confused:

If the City Manager is at fault he should be sacked for gross misconduct.

[eamo1]

Its more a protest at the city council then the government.The government did provide 30million last year to improve Galways treatment plants but NOTHING was done with that money.So its the members of the city council and Mayor who I feel should resign.The enviorment minister Dick Roche was down here a few weeks ago and basically ate the heads off them for doing nothing with money but i feel he could have gone further and asked for resignations.
Just to say that the protest this evning wasnt well attended although there were some people who wouldnt normally protest there so that was a good sign.But for some stupid reason members of the Galway Anti War group showed up and tried to hold a protest too and alot of normal people seemed to be scared away by them and so the protest petered out.But hopefully this will be just 1 of a few protests held until they finally resign or actually do something about it.

[Ringo]

Sounds like the usual suspects, the socialist workers hangers on. For me the ruin any respect I have for a legitimate protest. The city council, all parties, are to blame on this one IMO. Don’t see how the government can be blamed. There seems to be no plan. I love Galway & enjoy going there a lot, but as long as this is going on, I won’t be going next to near the place.

[Macy]

Can't believe people are buying Roche's spin hook, line and sinker (or should that be floater?). I'm sure the council fooked up by not acting sooner, but any reports about the quality of the Corrib water were also sitting on Roche's desk too. If the council weren't acting then the Department should've. There is cronic understaffing at councils, as Roche himself put an embargo on numbers and it really is effecting key areas such as the Environmental sections.

There's reports that go way back further than O'Brolchain term of office, and wasn't one of his platforms the state of the water in Lough Corrib? Roche's attacks on him a more politics for the general election, as he was in with a real chance of taking a seat. I'd be used to these pathetic attacks on the greens, as he's constantly at the same nonsense here in Wicklow with De Burca (the spawn of Roche, Joe Behan was doing the same yesterday on the radio).

I wouldn't be a huge supporter of the greens, although in a lot of things I find myself saying "good point", but this totally absolving of the Department of the Environment is ridiculous.

[pete]

Seen a bit of PrimeTime last night & they seemed to be blaming the muck spreaders.

Water is free in Ireland & i've come to the conclusion that irish people want everything free. Surely if we paid for water per use then not as much of it would be wasted.

The worst thing is to see the central & local government bickering about who is responsible when neither of them can be seen to be innocent. IMO local government do very little at the best of times & but they supply the water. If there is a serious problem they need to raise to central government & if no response need to actively pursue if as serious as they think it is.

[Macy]

It's not free though - the old rates were covered by increased VAT.

You're right about the bickering to some extent, however, it is Roche's job to make sure that Local Government is working, so either way it's at his desk the buck stops.

[pete]

It's not free though - the old rates were covered by increased VAT.

I know little is free as we pay through other taxes but a bit like the bin charges we can see exactly what we paying for & encourages reduction in use to reduce charges. Recycling has improved when people see direct cost saving. Same with plastic bag tax. If it was pay per use you would not see selfish people wasting water on their garden when supplies are scarce.

In fact I thought the EU was trying to force us to implement water metering?

[Eire06]

I love Galway & enjoy going there a lot, but as long as this is going on, I won’t be going next to near the place.
Why is the water issue stopping you from coming to Galway???
Does the fact that you have to boil the water before consuming it in other countries stop you going there on holidays??
Its not an airborn disease you can still come to Galway without getting sick, unless you travel to different counties to drink their tap water.....
:mad:



(3)Each bottle is adding to the weight of our bins and here in Galway its pay by weight for each bin.

Not entirely true.
Our recycling bins are free and we just pay by weight for the general waste bin.
I live in the city where there is the choice of pay by weight (only for general waste bin) or standard payment.

[eamo1]

im glad to hear they will be taking our empty water bottles for free from next week.Im not happy about these subsidise that they are giving for the water bottles,you just know the stores will not pass on anywhere near the amount of saving that they are meant too.WHy not provide water tankers?why not extend the buy one get one free to all types of bottled water?
FAO ringo:if you were going to any country on the Continent you would have to drink bottled water but would that stop you from booking your holiday to Spain or France this summer???no it wouldnt.

[Eire06]

im glad to hear they will be taking our empty water bottles for free from next week.Im not happy about these subsidise that they are giving for the water bottles,you just know the stores will not pass on anywhere near the amount of saving that they are meant too.WHy not provide water tankers?why not extend the buy one get one free to all types of bottled water?

As I said in my post our recycling bins are free and have always been (citybin I know Galway Co charge)

Just re the tankers offered by the army
Would you drink water from a tanker without boiling it first?? I wouldn't

[BohsPartisan]

In fact I thought the EU was trying to force us to implement water metering?

They are. The government are holding off on implementing it until after the election and there will be resistance.
As Macy pointed out we are already paying for all of this. Bin Charges and Water Charges have nothing to do with environmental measures (In many areas you have to pay for your green bin, theres a charge to enter our local recycling centre), they are just a means to open the door to privatisation which means increased prices (A bin tag in Drogheda costs 12 Euro now!).
Waste should be reduced at source and penalties placed on manufacturers who use excessive packaging.
As for Water, its a necessity. Without water we die. Making people pay through the nose for it is plain wrong. The country has never been as rich as it is now, there is no excuse for not having a modern working water system.

[Macy]

If it was pay per use you would not see selfish people wasting water on their garden when supplies are scarce.
But it's leaks that cause most wastage. Water charges and meters are just tax hiding behind a supposed green measure whether you think it's the start of privatisation or not (I think it is). Doesn't personally effect me as I have my own well anyway.

I don't think the Government have really thought the whole water charging through though, as it's all very well charging for water, but it has to be up to standard. For example, Longford Town and surrounding areas has appauling water quality, levels of sediment, pressure, lack of supply etc. People who all things being equal would pay the tax are all ready talking of boycotting it on the basis of quality and surity of supply! They don't kick up as much for the very fact they don't have to pay for it seperately.

[finlma]

Well done Macy - about time someone spoke some sense. People are buying into the government's "it's not our fault" and its pretty obvious they are trying to shift blame and loose the Green's a seat in Galway.

I generally don't vote Greens but I think O'Brolachain is the best thing to happen to the city in a long time and he'll be getting my vote anyway.

[pete]

I generally don't vote Greens but I think O'Brolachain is the best thing to happen to the city in a long time and he'll be getting my vote anyway.

I am no supporter of the government but I fail to see how sitting Mayor can escape any blame just say he didn't have the funds to supply clean water. Somehow the majority of the rest of the country have achieved it...

:confused:

[Ceirtlis]

I know someone working in Belfast City Council in the water department where they charge for the water and she told me that Cork and Galway city councils had been looking at the system in Belfast with a view to doing something similar.

I havent been in Galway much in the last two years but wasnt there a lot of what was supposed to be recyclable waste going to landfill a year or two ago as well as this thing with the water. The city council has appeared to be a bit of a joke in the last few years.

[finlma]

but I fail to see how sitting Mayor can escape any blame
:confused:

I didn't say he doesn't escape any blame. The problem originated long before he became mayor. Of course the situation could be handled a bit better but its my view that FF are using it to damage O'Brolochain's reputation prior to the general election.