10 Years On: Lessons From The Water Charges Movement

On October 11th 2014 over 100,000 people filled the streets of Dublin for the protest organised by the Right2Water campaign - many working class people had tears of joy in their eyes as they realised the scale of the march.

Successive Irish governments had tried to introduce water charges but failed, most notably in the 1990’s. In the middle of the recession Fine Gael saw the opportunity to get people paying for water - they were ultimately aiming for the privatisation of our water.

There had been some opposition to austerity with significant protests and strikes by public sector workers and a fairly strong campaign against the Property Tax. But public sector workers lost their battle when Labour went into government in 2011 and the trade union leaders pulled the plug on mass protests to defend Labour.

The property tax campaign was mainly organised by the far left and while it had a lot of support and significant numbers of people boycotting, the government was able to turn to Revenue to forcibly collect the tax and put a stop to the movement.

There was a real sense of defeat and anger among working class people who had fought against austerity and the property tax. It looked like the combination of Labour in power and the harsh hand of the tax man would bottle up anger against austerity. The government was wrong.

When the government announced that water charges would be part of the EU/IMF bank bailout deal the socialist left saw an opportunity for fight back and seized it. It was the combination of mass street mobilisations, the mass boycott of bills and local community organising that ultimately put so much pressure on the government that after the 2016 election the charges had to be abandoned.

What lessons can we learn today?

ONE: People Power works

At the beginning of the water charges campaign a lot of people who felt defeated by the years of austerity following 2008 told us that there was “no point in fighting back, that the government will just make us pay anyway.”

In April we started organising street meetings on the green spaces in working class estates while anti-meter protest broke out in Cork. The street meeting model grew massively but everyone wanted to unite in a big show of strength.

This was why socialists in People Before Profit argued for mass street mobilisations - to give a confidence boost to people. The protest on the 11th October 2014 saw 100,000 people on the streets of Dublin while local protests on the 1st November saw up to a quarter of a million people taking to the streets all across the country in every town and village.

These mass mobilisations of ordinary people put a huge amount of pressure on politicians as pickets were staged at local TD offices. It also gave people the confidence to boycott the charges when bills started dropping.

By the time of the 2016 general election the pressure on all parties and TD’s was so strong that despite the return of a Fine Gael government (backed up by Fianna Fail) they were forced to back down on water charges.

This shows that it’s possible to win concessions, even from Fine Gael. But this only happens when there is enough pressure on them from a people power movement. As we face into a possible scenario of FF/FG returning to power in the imminent election we have to remember that people power can still win!

A fighting working class can wrestle concessions from any government if we unite.

TWO: Unity Against Division

Throughout the period of austerity there had been numerous campaigns and groups formed across the country to fight back. Some were fighting to save a local hospital, others to defend the community sector against vicious cutbacks. Workers in trade unions had been on strike against wage cuts and job losses.

The water charges movement brought a lot of these varied groups and individuals together in a joint struggle. When people were asked on the water charges protests why they had come out, many answered that the water charges was just the final straw. They had been angry about all the other austerity measures but now they saw an opportunity to really fight and win.

Within the movement there were those who sought to divide and split the movement.

Some groups like Dublin Says No (not related to today’s anti-immigrant groups using the “Says No” brand!) at first didn’t want trade unions or political parties involved. But that would have weakened the movement.

Others such as the trade union leaders refused to support the call for a boycott and the blocking of water meters. Socialist activists argued that the movement needed to stay united to win. But we also raised our own arguments.

Within that unity for a practical end, like fighting water charges, socialists always reserve our right to criticise others. For example, when Sinn Fein TD’s said they wouldn’t support the boycott as a party but only as individuals we rightly criticised them. At the same time we stood side by side with them on the street protests. You had to do both.

The united front within Right2Water that included political parties, community groups and trade unions was ultimately a strength that led to the defeat of the charges.

But the movement could have gone further and there were those, particularly in the union bureacracies, who wanted to slow down the pace of protest. That’s why socialists argue for united front movements but reserve our right to act as a voice for the best interests of the movement and criticise others.

THREE: Electing Socialists matters

The Right2Water campaign was set up after a conference in the Gresham Hotel in April of 2014. That conference was pulled together and organised by People Before Profit’s Bríd Smith (then a councillor). This was followed up with a meeting in the Dáil hosted by Richard Boyd Barrett TD.

While there were many other groupings also organising in communities against the water charges the success of the street protests can be attributed to the coalition of groups in the Right2Water campaign. In the campaign socialist elected representatives such as Bríd Smith and Richard Boyd Barrett played key roles as well as working class socialists like James O’Toole who sat on the Right2Water committee.

But it was in the local areas that socialists made the most difference. It was Gino Kenny TD (then a councillor) who first began organising street meetings against the installation of water meters in Clondalkin in April 2014. In communities all across the country socialists were at the heart of the movement blocking meter installation alongside residents, fighting the Gardai, organising meetings and local rallies.

Having socialists as elected representatives meant that communities had leaders that could both help organise but also use their platforms in the Dail and on councils to act as a megaphone for the movement.

FOUR: Building a socialist organisation

I have already explained above the important role that socialists played in the campaign. The campaign against water charges was predominantly a working class campaign. Most of the people taking part in protests were from working class backgrounds and Unite the Union was a central component of the Right2Water campaign.

But there were elements of the movement that represented other classes. For example, former Fianna Faíl member and property developer Jerry Beades attended the marches under his “New Land League” banner.

Him, and others, might have been against water charges (and against other forms of taxation) but were firmly part of the establishment. Another individual around the water charges movement was Ben Gilroy. He stood as a candidate for the far right Irish freedom Party in 2020 and is a proponent of far right conspiracy theories on social media.

He went around telling people they could beat water charges with “freeman of the land” bullshit. Judges laughed them out of courts. These people were establishment stooges who had no real interest in real working class issues.

Whenever there is a mass popular movement you will find those who represent the middle class, despise the big bosses because they want to be them. Even establishment figures go into movements to try to take over or disrupt the movement.

Only if you build a strong socialist organisation based in the working class can you prevent these people from getting a foothold. At the December 2014 Right2Water rally at the Dáil Jerry Beades tried to get thousands to march away from the main demo. We got on megaphones and shouted “He’s a Fianna Fáil-er!”

FIVE: The fate of the left depends on mobilisation

Some people on the left think we can get bigger votes if we brand ourselves like the Social Democrats, chase middle class Green voters or try and appear like a prospect for running capitalism.

They forget that the highest ever polling results for the radical left were during water charges - especially in Dublin. You can’t avoid it - our job is to initiate struggle on the issues that matter to working class and oppressed people and then use the respect won from that organising to argue we need to get rid of capitalism.

Dáil and local council seats certainly help build such movements but ultimately it’s the movement is what matters - not the megaphone.

The water charges movement a decade ago was the last big people power movement in Ireland. It was successful in defeating the introduction of water charges and what would have ultimately led to the privatisation of water in Ireland.

Learning from past struggles is the key to winning future ones. Socialists played a key role in the water charges movement. If we want to win in the future we need socialists in every community and every workplace to pass on the lessons of the past.

If you want to be a part of this future struggle join the revolutionary socialists in the Red Network of People Before Profit.