Sir, – Your front-page report on November 17th quotes Enda Kenny as saying the protests are “not about water”. It has finally dawned on him. – Yours, etc,
J DOOLEY,
Dublin 14.
Sir, – Hanna Sheehy-Skeffington, a leading suffragette, was once arrested for throwing rocks at the windows of Dublin Castle. I wonder if this great lady were alive today, would she too be labelled a “thug” or a “sinister element”? – Yours, etc,
PATRICIA DUNNE,
Listowel, Co Kerry.
Sir, – I understand people's anger with how outrageous the water charges are, but realistically, if the Government doesn't tax our water, it will tax something else. The Government will make money from any taxable excuse it can find. If the water protests succeed, this will only lead to the Government imposing an identical amount of taxes on something else or an increased percentage on an already existing tax.
Although I agree with the other hundreds of thousands of anti-water activists, I would hate to witness an unnecessary outbreak of violence from both the Gardaand protesters due to a tax that inevitably will be imposed on the population, regardless of where it is targeted. – Yours, etc,
LUKE CAREY,
Dublin 6.
Sir, – The media storm caused by events in Jobstown and Coolock, and the now daily Government vilification of the parties and individuals involved in any public demonstrations, only serve to show how tame our public response has been to the incessant austerity programme since 2009.
As our Greek brethren have showed, sometimes physical public resistance gets results. Their social and political opposition to the troika’s privatisation drive, which operated at a different level to our water balloons and eggs, has been so fierce that the Greek government has already had to scale back its projected austerity proceeds from €50 billion by 2015 to a “mere” €11 billion by 2016.
While this doesn’t constitute a victory for their anti-austerity alliance, it does reveal the hostile social and political terrain there on which the troika and the Greek government have had to navigate.
In recent months, the grassroots campaign in Greece against the privatisation of the public water utilities, spearheaded by veteran activists from the 2011 Movement of the Squares, has also made major strides in rousing public opinion.
In late May, the movement was aided by a favourable court ruling that blocked the privatisation of the Athens water utility. This ruling marks the first significant victory in a collective public pushback that may yet set a precedent and cause the EU/IMF-enforced privatisation drive to come undone at the seams.
Too little, too late perhaps for us to undo our austerity measures. But the courage shown by the Greeks in the face of a more muscular government than ours shows what can be done. We must stick to our campaigns, keep them within the law, and keep the pressure incessant on our elected representatives and Government parties. – Yours, etc,
AUSTIN STACK,
Midleton, Co Cork.
Sir, – The recent water protests have been described by some politicians as acts of "bullying and intimidation". Enda Kenny has said that what happened to Joan Burton "almost amounted to kidnapping" ("Treatment of Tánaiste was effectively 'kidnapping', says Kenny", November 17th).
When Mr Kenny states that what happened to Joan Burton “almost amounted to kidnapping”, I do wonder if he thinks that implementing Fianna Fáil policies almost amounts to standing up to the bond holders, or if he thinks that a flat rate water tax without a corresponding decrease in general taxation to reflect the removal of water services from the central budget almost amounts to a usage-based charge.
Maybe he also believes that the way he runs the country through the Economic Management Council almost amounts to a democracy?
The politicians have ignored the will of the people for so long, they are in shock when the people say “enough is enough”.
These protests have been a long time coming and are the direct result of very bad political leadership for many, many years. – Yours, etc,
CIARAN SUDWAY,
Rathfarnham, Dublin 14.
Sir, – I wonder if a large march will make any difference? I cannot help thinking back to the marches in London when over one million citizens protested the invasion of Iraq – they had no effect. However, if the organisers of the water charges protest on December 10th got each marcher to sign a pledge promising to vote in the next general election and not to vote for either Coalition party, then we would be speaking the language politicians understand. Just a thought. – Yours, etc,
Dr JACK DOWNEY,
Limerick.
Sir, – The water protesters in Tallaght threw a water balloon at the Tánaiste. The Government responded by throwing the media at the water protesters. Game over. – Yours, etc,
DECLAN DOYLE,
Kilkenny.
Sir, – The Government seems surprised at the level of protesting at the water charges. I am extremely surprised that it has not happened sooner. – Yours, etc,
DAVID MURNANE,
Dunshaughlin, Co Meath.
Sir, – With Paul Murphy TD’s apparent blindness to Tánaiste Joan Burton being subjected to loutish behaviour in the guise of legitimate condemnation of water charges, perhaps it is time some of our public representatives were ushered into Leinster House and given some firm lessons in how Mahatma Gandhi defined peaceful protest. – Yours, etc,
MICHAEL CULLEN,
Sandycove,
Co Dublin.