(MENAFN- AFP) Thousands took to the streets of Dublin on Saturday in the latest mass protest against new water charges which have sparked widespread public anger.
The first bills for water from the new Irish Water utility are due next month after Dublin introduced the charges as a condition of its EU-IMF bailout.
Saturday's demonstration is the latest protest after similar rallies late last year that forced Prime Minister Enda Kenny's coalition government into an embarrassing climbdown when he slashed the charges.
Dublin capped water charges at 160 euros ($172) for single households and 260 euros for others, and abandoned plans for pay-as-you-use meters.
But the Right2Water campaign, an umbrella organisation of dozens of local opposition groups, and organiser of Saturday's protest, said the issue was not going away.
"We have one objective and that's to seek a repudiation of the domestic water charges legislation," organiser Brendan Ogle said.
"We're going to ensure this is the major political issue in the next general election."
The government has insisted that the pricing changes they introduced last year provided "certainty, clarity and affordability" for charges.
Irish Water says about two thirds of those who are liable to pay the new charges have now registered with the utility, which represents 990,000 customers out of an estimated customer base of 1.5 million.
Under the old system, water was paid for through general taxation and services were operated by local authorities.
Many of the crowd carried the flag of anti-austerity opposition party, Sinn Fein.
The crowd chanted "Enda Kenny, not a penny" and "no way, we won't pay."
Roy Murphy from Clondalkin in Dublin was carrying a "we reject water charges" poster.
"This is going to kill the government at the next general election. How exactly do they think they've made it affordable" he told AFP.
Another protestor, Deirdre from Dublin, who asked not to use her surname, said the issue had become bigger than just water taxes.
"We're already paying water taxes through general taxation. But it's not just this, it's the pension cuts, the property tax. I'm lucky enough to still be working but there hasn't been any salary increases in six years, but yet there's been lots of new taxes," she said.
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