Workers Solidarity Movement

Saturdays Household tax demonstration in Galway at the Labour Party conference saw angry scenes after Garda attempted to keep the protesters out of sight and sound from the conference venue. Students who were being kept off their own campus were particularly annoyed and led a push against the Garda barriers during which several of them were attacked with pepper spray. They did however succeed in removing the barriers with the result that around 1,000 of the 4,000 or so Household tax demonstrators were able to march to the door of the conference center to protest in full sight of the Labour party delegates inside.

A number of WSM members were present at the protest, either with their various local Household tax delegations or with FEE, the student group. One of them was among the people pepper sprayed. We asked them to give us their accounts of what happened on the day.

Below is the text of comments by Gregor Kerr introducing the 'Open mic' session at the Campaign Against Household And Water Taxes protest outside the Fine Gael Ard Fheis on Saturday 31st March.  Approx 25 people spoke - representing campaigns in Dublin West, Dun Laoghaire, Carlow, Ballyfermot, Wicklow, North Inner City Dublin, Finglas/Ballymun, Lucan, South East Inner City Dublin, Wexford, Newbridge, Connemara, Kilkenny, Edenderry, Cork and the East Wall area of Dublin.  

The rally was also addressed by Maura Harrington of Shell to Sea, Mick O'Reilly of the Dublin Council of Trade Unions, Jean Monaghan - one of the GAME Shop workers currently in occupation of their workplaces fighting for proper redundancy payments and Jimmy Kelly of Unite Union.  

The Fine Gael Ard Fheis took place over the course of last weekend (31st March). While hundreds of politicians reinforced an austerity-laden approach to politics in Dublin’s Convention Centre, about 10,000 Anti-Household-Charge protesters took over the docklands in an electrifying show of strength.  This was the final day of the governement trying to force people to register for the tax and by midnight it was clear that the campaigns goal of getting 50% to refuse to register had been met.

The Campaign against the Household Tax is in a prime position to win. Mass non-registration is now a reality, and the Campaign has been established in every part of the country.

A bumper crowd of over 400 crammed into the largest function room of Cork's Metropole Hotel to be part of a rally to mark the end of the first phase of the campaign waged against the government's 'Household Charge'. The rally began with a humorous and topical song composed by a campaign supporter, John Murphy, then several speeches from the top table, and was followed by an 'open mike' session where members of the attendance expressed their outrage, anger, and defiance over the imposition of the Household Tax and the implementation of the austerity agenda.

Saturday's National Rally against the Household Tax in the National Stadium was literally filled to overflowing. As well as nearly 3,000 people crammed into every possible space in the Stadium another 4 to 500 were in the car park at the side, unable to fit into the building. And the thousands who attended were angry, energized and expectant of victory. The National Stadium normally hosts boxing marches but the atmosphere on Saturday topped that of watching a home fighter coming out on top in a close fought bout.

Over the past two months the Campaign against the Household and Water Taxes has grown from strength to strength. Since the start of government registration in January, campaign meetings across the country have been packed out. 500 attended a meeting in Cork city, only to be surpassed by a meeting of 700 in Waterford city a week later. Likewise, across Dublin dozens of meetings have been held in parish halls and community centres, all with the clear message of “Don’t Register, Don’t Pay”. Building on this support, the campaign has now distributed nearly 750,000 leaflets explaining the tax and why we must refuse to pay it.

The Campaign Against the Household and Water Tax (CAHWT) is on the cusp of a very significant victory – as indicated by the recent announcement that less than 20% of households in the Republic had registered with the Government to pay the new unjust tax.  This low level of compliance with Government orders is clear evidence that the Campaign has managed to tap into a rich seam of discontent.  Admittedly these are early days and the struggle has a while to go yet, but nonetheless it is an important and notable success.

A report on the sucessful Campaign against the Household and Water Taxes (CAHWT) public meeting in Kildare:

Upon arriving at the meeting in the Derby House at around 7:30pm I found a number of members of the Kildare CAHWT branch making final preparations in the function room. A projector was playing a recording of an interview describing the continuing mismanagement of the Irish economic crisis.

At half past one on Saturday March 10 there were 4 members of the Newbridge Campaign Against Household and Water Charges assembled in the driveway of the Patrician Brothers monastery.We had two megaphones and a placard between us. Needless to say we were eagerly looking around for other members and people to bolster our numbers as the start of the march was scheduled for 2pm.