New Events

National

no events posted in last week

Blog Feeds

Anti-Empire

Anti-Empire

offsite link North Korea Increases Aid to Russia, Mos... Tue Nov 19, 2024 12:29 | Marko Marjanovi?

offsite link Trump Assembles a War Cabinet Sat Nov 16, 2024 10:29 | Marko Marjanovi?

offsite link Slavgrinder Ramps Up Into Overdrive Tue Nov 12, 2024 10:29 | Marko Marjanovi?

offsite link ?Existential? Culling to Continue on Com... Mon Nov 11, 2024 10:28 | Marko Marjanovi?

offsite link US to Deploy Military Contractors to Ukr... Sun Nov 10, 2024 02:37 | Field Empty

Anti-Empire >>

The Saker
A bird's eye view of the vineyard

offsite link Alternative Copy of thesaker.is site is available Thu May 25, 2023 14:38 | Ice-Saker-V6bKu3nz
Alternative site: https://thesaker.si/saker-a... Site was created using the downloads provided Regards Herb

offsite link The Saker blog is now frozen Tue Feb 28, 2023 23:55 | The Saker
Dear friends As I have previously announced, we are now “freezing” the blog.? We are also making archives of the blog available for free download in various formats (see below).?

offsite link What do you make of the Russia and China Partnership? Tue Feb 28, 2023 16:26 | The Saker
by Mr. Allen for the Saker blog Over the last few years, we hear leaders from both Russia and China pronouncing that they have formed a relationship where there are

offsite link Moveable Feast Cafe 2023/02/27 ? Open Thread Mon Feb 27, 2023 19:00 | cafe-uploader
2023/02/27 19:00:02Welcome to the ‘Moveable Feast Cafe’. The ‘Moveable Feast’ is an open thread where readers can post wide ranging observations, articles, rants, off topic and have animate discussions of

offsite link The stage is set for Hybrid World War III Mon Feb 27, 2023 15:50 | The Saker
Pepe Escobar for the Saker blog A powerful feeling rhythms your skin and drums up your soul as you?re immersed in a long walk under persistent snow flurries, pinpointed by

The Saker >>

Lockdown Skeptics

The Daily Sceptic

offsite link Rachel Reeves is Making the Same Mistake as Liz Truss Mon Jan 13, 2025 20:00 | Will Jones
Labour loves to remind voters how Liz Truss 'crashed the economy', but Rachel Reeves is making the exact same mistake. She's asking the markets to lend the Government vast sums and they're telling her where to get off.
The post Rachel Reeves is Making the Same Mistake as Liz Truss appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

offsite link Labour Rotherham MP U-Turns and Backs National Grooming Gang Inquiry Mon Jan 13, 2025 18:24 | Will Jones
The Labour MP who represents the?grooming hot spot of Rotherham, Sarah Champion,?has performed a U-turn to demand a?national inquiry?into the scandal.
The post Labour Rotherham MP U-Turns and Backs National Grooming Gang Inquiry appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

offsite link Health Secretary Could Change Law to Update Covid Vaccine Compensation Scheme Mon Jan 13, 2025 15:58 | Will Jones
Health Secretary Wes Streeting is looking at changing the law regarding compensation for?people harmed by Covid vaccines?amid concern it doesn't offer enough support, with just ?120,000 available for those "60%" disabled.
The post Health Secretary Could Change Law to Update Covid Vaccine Compensation Scheme appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

offsite link Letby Accuser Likely Part Responsible for Baby O Death, Expert Review Finds Mon Jan 13, 2025 13:34 | Dr David Livermore
One of Lucy Letby's chief accusers was likely part responsible for the death of Baby O due to "suboptimal care", an expert review has found, casting further doubt on the nurse's convictions, says Prof David Livermore.
The post Letby Accuser Likely Part Responsible for Baby O Death, Expert Review Finds appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

offsite link The Cold Truth ? Britain?s Grim Winter?s Tale Mon Jan 13, 2025 11:15 | Sallust
Governments don't stay in power if they make people cold and poor, but that's a lesson Britain's recent and present administrations don't seem to have learned, as green ideology pushes freezing Britain into fuel poverty.
The post The Cold Truth ? Britain’s Grim Winter’s Tale appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

Lockdown Skeptics >>

Voltaire Network
Voltaire, international edition

offsite link Voltaire, International Newsletter N?114-115 Fri Jan 10, 2025 14:04 | en

offsite link End of Russian gas transit via Ukraine to the EU Fri Jan 10, 2025 13:45 | en

offsite link After Iraq, Libya, Gaza, Lebanon and Syria, the Pentagon attacks Yemen, by Thier... Tue Jan 07, 2025 06:58 | en

offsite link Voltaire, International Newsletter N?113 Fri Dec 20, 2024 10:42 | en

offsite link Pentagon could create a second Kurdish state Fri Dec 20, 2024 10:31 | en

Voltaire Network >>

Why Irish Water Will Be Sold Off

category national | bin tax / household tax / water tax | opinion/analysis author Wednesday June 04, 2014 15:18author by Luke Eastwood Report this post to the editors

Water is becoming a corporate resource - the sell off of Irish Water is almost certain Call me a cynic, but I am absolutely convinced that the current Irish government has created Uisce Éireann (Irish Water) with the sole purpose of selling Ireland’s water rights to the private sector within the next decade. Already Uisce Éireann has wasted over €80 million euro in consultancy fees paid to the private sector and it will continue to use private sector contractors to carry out its work, at as yet unknown cost. It is only the fact that it would be political suicide for the government right now that prevents a share issue in the near future.

So why would the government consider such a crazy and reckless thing as to sell our most vital national resource, that belongs to the people of Ireland, to any takers? If one looks at other industries – oil, gas and forestry for example the current and previous governments have been quite happy to play into the hands of corporate interests, quite obviously against the national interest. Only because of public embarrassment has there been any back-pedalling on handing over the nation’s resources for next to nothing to corporate vultures.
Given the nonchalance of this and previous governments, it should not be a surprise if we find that Uisce Éireann is up for sale in a few years, after all the current fuss over water metering has died down. Sure, the government knows that a week is a long time in politics and given enough time elapsed people quickly forget – thus allowing all manner of nefarious schemes to go ahead unchecked.

If we look at water in a wider context – it is fast becoming a commodity to equal oil in value and so the big banks and mega corporations of the world are all clambering to get in on the next growth industry. A recent article from zerohedge.com(1) highlights increased interest in the water industry as the world moves towards ‘Peak Water’, or rather increased demand for a dwindling supply of fresh accessible water.

This process of diversifying into water has already begun, as documented by globalreseach.ca website (2,3). No doubt banks and corporations looking to invest in water will being keeping a close eye on Ireland, in the hope of snagging a bargain at the expense of the Irish tax-payer.

Ireland, as we all know, has a temperate climate with high annual rainfall, which means that we actually have a surplus of water most years. Unfortunately for the government, because our water system is so antiquated a massive percentage of our water is either not collected (not enough reservoirs) or lost through poorly maintained infrastructure, hence Uisce Éireann is not profitable.

At the moment Uisce Éireann has no track record, the repair work to be paid for by us taxpayers has yet to be done. However, in a year or two there will most likely be a healthy balance sheet when the infrastructure has been upgraded out of the massive income received through billing the country’s citizens for the right to drink and wash.

At such point when Uisce Éireann is making a handsome profit the government will no doubt be encouraged by the IMF and EU to sell it off to help pay off Ireland’s staggering national debt (4) (currently approx imately €179bn euro and rising).

It would make more sense to put the annual profits from Uisce Éireann into further improvements and also national debt repayments, rather than sell off the company, although both FF and FG are more interested in placating big business, the banks especially, than they are interested in serving the people that vote them in.

Sadly Ireland is controlled by largely concealed corporate interests who pull the puppet strings of our politicians. So when I read the headlines in a few years – ‘Uisce Éireann to become a PLC’ or similar, it will be entirely unsurprising. What worries me most is that people in this country cannot see that this is the most likely outcome and have still not realised that the concerns of the electorate mean nothing to most of the members of Dáil Éireann.

1. http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2014-05-30/path-peak-wate...aphic
2. http://www.globalresearch.ca/the-new-water-barons-wall-...83274
3. http://www.globalresearch.ca/privatization-of-water-as-...78483
4. http://www.financedublin.com/debtclock.php

Related Link: http://www.lukeeastwood.com

 #   Title   Author   Date 
   water is OUR human right...     concernedcitizen    Wed Jun 04, 2014 22:13 
   Irish Water and the UN Aarhus Convention Treaty     W. Finnerty    Thu Nov 06, 2014 15:55 
   " ... to take control of global energy systems (and GLOBAL WATER SYSTEMS???) rather than ..."     W. Finnerty    Fri Nov 07, 2014 11:12 


 
© 2001-2025 Independent Media Centre Ireland. Unless otherwise stated by the author, all content is free for non-commercial reuse, reprint, and rebroadcast, on the net and elsewhere. Opinions are those of the contributors and are not necessarily endorsed by Independent Media Centre Ireland. Disclaimer | Privacy