Populist Opportunism Sees Fianna Fáil Play Catch Up
In a blatant act of populist opportunism Fianna Fáil has finally caught up with public opinion and called for the abolition of the unjust Water Tax. We produced this video over three and a half years ago – advocating direct action to frustrate the installation of water meters.
Unlike Fianna Fáil, Sinn Féin and others, our position on the Water Tax has been 100% consistent since day one. When Micheál Martin’s Party announced their intention to introduce the Water Tax as part of the Troika bailout in 2011, Éirígí understood that the tax would pave the way for the full privatisation of water services and water resources.
Since 2011 we have been advocating a multi-pronged campaign of opposition to the Water Tax – combining the strengths of Mass Protest, Direct Action and Boycott to defeat the privatisation of one of our most precious natural resources.
In 2012 we produced stickers and posters advocating a boycott of the Tax and in 2013 we produced this video and organised community meetings encouraging resistance to the unjust tax. In 2014 our activists joined and helped organise rolling peaceful direct action to physically prevent the installation of Water Meters.
Éirígí on a march calling for an end to the natural resource robbery and the abolition of the water tax
When the first Right 2 Water protest mobilised 100,000 people on the streets of Dublin in September 2014 it was clear that our position on the Water Tax was far closer to public opinion than the positions of Fianna Fáil or Sinn Féin – the two major so-called opposition parties.
Since that first demonstration two years ago Sinn Féin and Fianna Fáil have performed more backflips than an Olympic gymnast as they attempt to harvest votes for their respective candidates. While neither party has endorsed peaceful direct actions against water meters or the boycott of Irish Water, they are at least now both calling for full abolition of the hated tax.
Éirígí once again calls for the full abolition of the Water Tax. And more than that we are calling for all of our valuable natural resources to be taken into public ownership – including Europe’s largest Lead and Zinc mine in Tara, the Corrib Gas Field and the Barryroe Oil Field.
We demand the end of The Great Natural Resource Robbery!