The highpoint of mass protest organized by right2water was last November, when the government was forced to cut back sharply on water charges.

A year on, we can see that simply repeating protests is not enough. Non-payment is an essential element of resistance but must be part of a broader movement.

Calls for a referendum simply move the issue into the long grass. Why not push hard now to close down Irish Water?  The referendum issue simply resolves tensions in the unions—TEEU join solely to demand a referendum. SIPTU members have been asked to join the protest and call for a “conservation” water charge!

In the background is the Lansdowne Rd agreement and the wholesale privatization of resources and services.

We are told that a left government could be the goal. However the truth is that socialists have failed utterly to build a party on which such a government could be based. 

In any case it, as with a much stronger and more coherent Greek government, would immediately face the Troika.

The answers to our problems lie in the streets, workplaces and communities. That is where we must organize.

There is much to play for. The opposition to water privatisation has exceeded all expectations. The government has been seriously weakened and any new government will be even more unstable.

Our aim is straightforward. We should close Irish Water before it is fully established. To do so we need an open conference to build the democratic united movement. We need to establish control of our own movement and actions and not be marched around as election fodder or as a card to be played in negotiations we do not control.