Politics

Anti-water charges protest due for Dublin on October 11th

Socialist Party’s TD Richard Boyd Barrett has called the water charges ‘disgusting’

Paul Murphy (Socialist Party), of the We Won’t Pay Campaign, outside the Irish Water Head Office in Dublin’s city centre yesterday during a protest in which water was given free to the public and Irish Water sign-up packs were returned to Irish Water. Photograph: Gareth Chaney/Collins
Paul Murphy (Socialist Party), of the We Won’t Pay Campaign, outside the Irish Water Head Office in Dublin’s city centre yesterday during a protest in which water was given free to the public and Irish Water sign-up packs were returned to Irish Water. Photograph: Gareth Chaney/Collins
Tim O'Brien
Thu Oct 02 2014 - 12:36

A national demonstration against water charges is to take place in Dublin on October 11th.

Announcing the protest this morning, anti-water charge campaigner Paul Murphy (Socialist Party) said resistance to the charges was building, with nightly meetings across the country attracting crowds of around 500 people.

However, he said widespread resentment at the charges was not being recognised by the main political parties or the media, predicting a massive turnout for the national protest at the Garden of Remembrance in Dublin.

Socialist TD Richard Boyd Barrett said the charges represented the "theft of a public resource".

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He said families and the elderly would wonder “if they could afford a shower or a wash or even the most basic sanitation”.

A water charge was, he said, a “disgusting” charge.

Sinn Féin's Cllr Daithi Doolan said there were no water charges in Northern Ireland and there was no need for them in the South.

The demonstration is being organised by Right2Water, an umbrella group involving trade unions Unite, Mandate, and the CPSU as well as Sinn Féin, the Socialist Party, the Socialist Workers' Party and The Workers' Party.

Tim O'Brien

Tim O'Brien

Tim O'Brien is an Irish Times journalist