Is fada ceist chasta na dtáillí uisce ina cnámh spairne in Éirinn. Ach sa bhliain 2014, chuaigh cúrsaí thar maoil nuair a chuaigh an pobal, a bhí crosta cheana féin go raibh an t-ualach a chuaigh le tarrtháil na mbancanna ag titim orthu, amach ar na sráideanna ag aighneas agus ag agóid i gcoinne táillí uisce a bheith le gearradh in athuair orthu.
Tharla sraith mórshiúlóidí i ndiaidh a chéile agus ócáidí áitiúla eile níos lú ná sin go dtí gur thit eachtra amach i mí na Samhna 2014 ar eastát tithíochta i Ráth Miontáin, Tamhlacht a d'fhág an Tánaiste, Joan Burton, agus cúntóir dá cuid sáinnithe ar feadh uaireanta a chloig ina gcarr ag dream a bhí ag agóidíocht in aghaidh na dtáillí uisce go dtí gur thionlaic amach as an eastát sa deireadh iad i mbun mallmháirseála.
The thorny issue of water charges has long caused controversy in Ireland. But it reached boiling point in 2014 when the public, already angry at having to carry the burden of the banking bailout, took to the streets to protest against the reintroduction of water charges.
A series of mass marches and smaller local protests culminated in an incident in November 2014 in a housing estate in Jobstown, Tallaght, when then Tánaiste, Joan Burton, and her aide were trapped in a car for hours by anti-water charge protestors, then slow-marched out of the estate by them.
Chuaigh dhá bhliain thart, mar a chuaigh €467 milliún, 800,000 méadar uisce agus na céadta ócáid agóidíochta, go dtí gur éirigh an Rialtas as an bplean a thabhairt ar cháiníocóirí na hÉireann íoc ar a gcuid uisce. Sé mhí tar éis don chomhlacht nuabhunaithe Uisce Éireann billí a chur amach den chéad uair, bhí ar an gcomhlacht a gcuid airgid a íoc ar ais le haon mhilliún custaiméir a raibh na billí sin íoctha acu.
Two years, €467 million, 800,000 water meters and hundreds of protests later, the Government abandoned its project to make Irish taxpayers pay for their water. Six months after the newly-formed Irish Water issued its first bills, the company was forced to refund one million customers who had paid their water bills.
Ar cheann de na hathruithe droim ar ais ba mhó agus ba shuntasaí i gcúrsaí polaitíochta ó bunaíodh an Stát, vótáil Dáil Éireann ar an 13 Aibreán 2017 deireadh a chur le táillí uisce. Eagrán é seo de Scannal a bhainfidh stangadh as an duine, chomh maith le meangadh, agus sinn siar is aniar ar feadh leathchéad bliain ag trácht ar pholaitíocht na hÉireann - ar rudaí a ligean i bhfad, ar chumhacht na ndaoine agus ar chúlú.
In one of the most spectacular political about-turns in the history of the State, Dáil Éireann voted, on the 13th of April 2017, to abolish water charges. In this often jaw-dropping, sometimes funny, episode of Scannal, we time-travel across 5 decades to tell a very Irish story of politics, procrastination, people power and back-pedaling.
Tháinig Seán Ó Loingsigh i dtír ar a dheis polaitíochta sa bhliain 1977; chuaigh táillí na n-údarás áitiúil in aimhréidh i rith bhlianta na n-80idí; tharla agóidí faoi chúrsaí uisce i mBaile Átha Cliath i rith na 90idí; agus, ar ndóigh, tharla scannal faoi bhónais Uisce Éireann sa bhliain 2014.
Caitheann Scannal, mar is iondúil ar an gclár, súil chruinn bheacht siar, mar is furasta don staraí, ar ar tharla gan bheith dall ar chor ar bith ar an ábhar grinn sa scéal. An mbeadh i ndán go deo gur muinín, aontas agus iontaoibh a bheadh ag muintir na hÉireann maidir le huisce faoi thalamh?
From Jack Lynch's political opportunism in 1977 to the fiasco that was the local authority charges of the 80s; from the Dublin water protests of the 90s to the scandal of the Irish Water bonuses in 2014, Scannal does what it does best and looks back with the benefit of hindsight (and a wry smile) at how a rain-soaked island in the North Atlantic got hot and steamy over H2O.
Craolfar SCANNAL: WATER FIGHT Dé Máirt an 12 Nollaig ag 7 i.n. ar RTÉ One/ SCANNAL: WATER FIGHT airs Tuesday 12th of December, 7pm on RTÉ One.
