Irish Examiner view: Tough choices on vital services as families forced to foot the bill
A single 50-year-old pipe serving 40% of the capital from the Ballymore Eustace water treatment plant in Kildare could 'blow up in the morning', according to Uisce Éireann chair Jerry Grant. Picture: Colin Keegan/Collins Dublin
There were some plaintive responses when the sent its reporter out this week to quiz shoppers about utility prices. They know that they’re a one-way bet. Heading northwards.
The most recent data from the Commission for Regulation of Utilities has shown that one in nine households in Ireland are in arrears on their electricity bills, while almost one in four are behind on their gas bills.
Further evidence for the increasing indebtedness of Irish citizens is provided by the Central Statistics Office survey on income and living conditions.
Nor is upward pressure confined to essential energy charges. The Competition and Consumer Protection Commission has called for a Government crackdown on suppliers who ratchet up bills mid-contract.
Eir, Sky, Three, and Vodafone have announced rises in TV, mobile, and broadband costs, commencing next month.
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Last month, SSE Airtricity said it will increase electricity bills by 10.5% and gas bills by 8.5%. The wholesale price index has electricity prices 67.7% higher than a year ago.
Even setting aside fuel costs, the account provided by one pensioner speaks for many.
“Pensioners got €12 [weekly] of an increase,” she said.
“This week I got a bill from Eir; they’re increasing my fibre broadband by €6. I got a new phone with Vodafone; now because it’s nearly April, that is going up by €3.50. That’s €9.50. The €12 is gone like that.
One of the fundamental utilities is water. It would be possible to fill several editions of this newspaper with varying complaints from the public about Uisce Éireann (formerly Irish Water) the State-owned company which services 80% of the population.
These include anger over unsafe and dirty water; supply restrictions; lack of accountability; sewage spilling over roads; flooding; equipment failure; pollution; and fish kills. Fewer people rail about under-investment, although this is the direct cause of many of these problems.
For many months, Uisce Éireann bosses have been warning about the mismatch between government targets for housing and the pipe network needed to take water to and away from new homes. This week its chairman, Jerry Grant, was gloomy about future prospects.
A single 50-year-old pipe serving 40% of the capital from the Ballymore Eustace water treatment plant in Kildare could “blow up in the morning”, he said.
A scheme to take water from the Shannon is unlikely to be completed in less than a decade, despite its requirement being identified almost 30 years ago.
As an object lesson of what can go wrong with water provision, we need look no further than a couple of hundred miles away where the benighted Thames Water, some £16bn (€19bn) in debt, helpfully allowed BBC cameras inside the company for a prolonged wallow in its travails.
Thames Water, debt-free on privatisation in 1989, has failed to generate the profits required to update and expand its infrastructure while simultaneously satisfying the desires of shareholders and the financial aspirations of executives.
Failure to future-proof one of life’s essential services is one of them. A lack of curiosity, accompanied by insufficient clout from independent regulators, are others.
If we want to avoid similar catastrophic mistakes, this country requires investment to improve systems so they can cope with population growth and increased rainfall.
If it means selecting something which is essential, such as water, over items such as faster telecoms services and streaming platforms, then this is the type of choice that people may increasingly be forced to make.
Fellow citizens will have their own views on what they should pack in the 72 hours of emergency supplies that we are being advised to assemble to increase our readiness for weather catastrophes, Russian attacks, pandemics, or Donald Trump tariffs.
Murphy’s or Guinness? How many packs of Tayto? Tanora or Coke? The doings for colcannon or coddle? Some Cork spiced beef? Comfort food is going to be important in a crisis.
The commissioner in charge, Hadja Lahbib, said that member states should define what was needed “on the basis of geopolitical and geostrategic position”.
She’s got the ingredients for pasta alla puttanesca in her pack, which you might find a little surprising given that she’s from Belgium. One might think the choice there would be moules and frites with lots of mayonnaise and a Trappist strong ale.
Sensibly, we’re reminded that it’s a good idea to have water, batteries, a radio, a torch, some cash, and a supply of your medicines.
And, of course, that essential tool for any emergency — a Swiss army knife.
The Swiss are famously well-organised despite not being a member of the EU. They used to keep some three months of supplies in the national stockpile.
Pessimists note that they would like to double that to six months.
For a country with a well-developed awareness of the challenges of climate change and a liking for street protest, it is perhaps surprising that the eco campaign group Just Stop Oil had such a low profile in Ireland.
Whether you supported their tactics will depend, in part, on whether you think that disrupting the lives and leisure of ordinary people is a justifiable price to pay for raising awareness of the contribution that burning fossil fuels makes to global warming.
Certainly, the stunts organised by Just Stop Oil, which commenced its activities in 2022, were consistently eye-catching, if unwise in some of their aspects.
They formed part of a loose federation of activists, including Extinction Rebellion and Insulate Britain. The early signature forms of protest involved slow marching down essential traffic routes, superglueing themselves to road tarmac, and terrifying activities such as hanging off the Dartford bridge crossing the Thames and from a gantry over the M25, Britain’s busiest motorway.
Sporting and cultural events and locations were particular targets. The Grand Prix circuit at Silverstone was blocked (the race had been suspended at the time) and the World Snooker Championship was postponed when a table was covered in orange powder.
Van Gogh’s at the National Gallery in London was doused in tomato soup. While the painting itself was protected by glass, its valuable frame was damaged.
The Stonehenge World Heritage site was attacked with a washable orange paint made from cornflour.
General tolerance over the movement’s objectives became frayed when examples emerged of emergency services, including ambulances, being hampered by road blockades. Tempers were raised, also, by the powder and soup attacks which were seen as performative and narcissistic.
Punitive prison sentences handed out to participants and organisers were criticised by civil liberties campaigners and Amnesty International, but there was no real indication that the punishments were out of touch with general sentiment.
To that extent, Just Stop Oil has made its mark on history. But it may be concluded that the biggest challenges lie ahead for successor movements who now face the reality of Donald Trump’s government, Vladimir Putin’s desire to replenish the petroleum and gas currencies he has lost through embargo, and capitalist commitment to the role of fracking in the future energy landscape.
Just Stop Oil claimed that its supporters were arrested more than 2,100 times between April 2022 and May 2023, and 138 people have spent time in prison.
A fuller account of the disruption and costs is required before conclusions can be reached as to whether this was time well spent.
Whatever forms future protests by successor groups take, it is unlikely that we have reached the end of this particular road.
