Anti-water charges campaigners have responded to recent speculation on a possible new financial package for Northern Ireland by calling on the public to step up the pressure on the Assembly Executive to finally scrap water charges.

Spokesperson for the We Won’t Pay Campaign Gary Mulcahy today stated “The reason the Northern Ireland Executive is looking for a financial package is due to the mass opposition which exists in every local community to water charges.”

“The Assembly has nervously prevaricated for more than a year now over the introduction water charges. Talk of deferring water bills for a fourth year in a row further discredits this entire fiasco. The Executive should now remove the uncertainty which exists by announcing the scrapping of water charges once and for all. That would be the most democratic outcome.”

The We Won’t Pay Campaign will be encouraging the public to contact their local representatives to demand that they join the chorus calling for the scrapping of water charges.

Our answer: DON’T PAY!

THE ASSEMBLY Executive is set to impose water charges in April 2009. Householders will face water bills of up to £775 next year rising to £950 the year after. That is even higher than what direct rule Ministers were looking for!
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Legal bombshell causes funding crisis for Northern Ireland Water
The long-running controversial plan to introduce water charges has taken a dramatic new twist after a Department of Finance Personnel official has admitted that water charges cannot be collected through the rates on behalf of Northern Ireland Water Ltd.
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Tell the politicians… NO TO WATER CHARGES

THE DECISION of the Assembly Executive to introduce water charges next April has aroused enormous anger. After claiming they would oppose water charges if elected to the Assembly, all the parties in the Executive have turned on the people and are now determined to bring them in.

The politicians in Stormont are trying to justify the introduction of water charges by claiming that we won’t be paying twice for water. Finance Minister Peter Robinson claims that by freezing the regional rate for the next three years, this means water charges won’t be a double tax. But this is a con. We already pay for water through the rates. Direct rule ministers like Peter Hain lied that we didn’t pay, but now we have proved that we do pay. Even the politicians in the Assembly have been forced to recognise this fact. The introduction of water charges by the Assembly Executive will be an extra charge on top of what we already pay in the rates. There will be NO reduction in rates. Water charges will be an additional tax, on top of what we already pay in our rates. So water charges will still be a double tax.

The con artists in Stormont will try to spin some convoluted explanation for water charges, but it won’t wash. Working people are already paying more than enough. Rates have ballooned in recent years. The regional rate has risen by a massive 62% in the past five years alone. The political parties on every district council across the North have just announced further increases in the district rates. Moyle Council has announced increases of 9.4%, Ballymena up by 9.85% and Antrim District Council has topped the chart with a 9.88% hike in district rates. Wages and pensions sure haven’t seen similar increases. Once water charges are introduced, they will continue to rise year after year. This was the experience after water charges were introduced in Britain. Bills soared by 50% in the first four years. But why wait until the charges are introduced? According to the new bosses of Northern Ireland Water, due to a ‘miscalculation’, they have had to admit that water charges will be 15% more expensive than originally intended, even before they’re introduced!

The recent publication of the Strand Two report from the water review panel proposes that every household should pay water charges, even those dependent on benefits. In contrast to how they treat the poorest households, they propose a cap on water charges for the rich. A maximum cap on water charges will apply for those living in homes worth over £400,000. In practice, this means that any increases in water charges will apply to those struggling to get by on the minimum wage but there will never be any increase in water charges for millionaires!

The best response to the lies of the politicians in the Executive that they would oppose water charges when elected to the Assembly is to build the We Won’t Pay Campaign in every estate, in every village, town and city. By standing united in opposition, people power can succeed in scrapping the unjust water charges.

The We Won’t Pay Campaign has announced that the unexpected threat of water bills increasing by 15% next year is a warning of what will happen year after year unless the charges are defeated.

Pat Lawlor, secretary of the anti-water charges campaign, said “We have continuously warned that once water charges are introduced, bills will escalate year after year which will financially cripple thousands of households. We have seen the experience already in Britain, where water charges soared by 50% in the first four years of the introductionof water charges. This year, bills will increase by 18% on average in April, some areas will see water bills go up by 25%.”

The We Won’t Pay Campaign also attacked the “political parties who claimed to oppose water charges when seeking election to the Assembly but are now clearly preparing to stab the people in the back by imposing charges next April.”

The group also demanded that the “water service be brought fully back into public ownership and democratically run in the interests of the public, and not as a potential source of profits as the directors of Northern Ireland Water Ltd. want.”

We Won’t Pay Campaign to fight imposition of water charges

THE STRAND Two Report from the “Independent” Water Review Panel released in January has proposed that NI Water should continue down the path to privatisation by becoming a “Customers Company” after 2013. Read the rest of this entry »

By Pat Lawlor, Secretary We Won’t Pay Campaign

A REPORT issued in November “Governance of water supply service in Northern Ireland” by David Hall, Director of the Public Services International Research Unit, has added further damning evidence that privatisation of the water service is still on the agenda. Read the rest of this entry »

The We Won’t Pay Campaign has succeeded in forcing the Assembly to abandon plans to impose seperate water bills for the third year in a row. This has meant that on average each household has saved £678 in postponed water charges. Read the rest of this entry »

The We Won’t Pay Campaign has replied to comments made by Minister for Regional Development Conor Murphy on radio today, warning that the Assembly Executive appear to be preparing the introduction of additional water charges through the rates.
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£1,700 a day is being paid to the four member panel in charge of ‘reviewing’ water charges.

The chair of the Independent Water Review Panel appointed by the Assembly Executive is being paid £500 a day.

Paddy Hilyard who is also a full-time senior lecturer at Queens University Belfast chairs the four person panel. Each of the other panel members are being paid £400 a day. Read the rest of this entry »