A war of words has erupted between Shannon Minerals and the authorities, with Shannon Minerals whining that there was no actual fecal matter found in their products. Coliform bacteria, the culprits, tend to thrive in faeces, but can be found elsewhere. Either way and semantics aside, this is yet another batch of expensive and contaminated water to have bypassed internal security and safety checks, and made its way to a point of purchase. The difference this time round being that the company at the root of the issue was named: Shannon Minerals. It begs the question to be asked: is this because Shannon Minerals is small fry in the big scheme of things and that it's safe for the authorities to slap them down when they require it?

I'd suggest that this is exactly the reason that they've been named. Having said that, I'm not in any way suggesting that Shannon Minerals don't deserve a good kicking. They most assuredly do.

What will be the outcome of the latest debacle?

There'll be some posturing I suppose, and maybe some wrist slapping. But other than that and regarding the arrogant and self-righteous approach taken by Shannon Minerals, I'd hazard a guess that nothing much will happen.

You know things are getting out of hand when you can't even buy clean water!

When privitisation occurs, we'll be thankful for it!

RTE STORY HERE

MORE INFO ON COLIFORM BACTERIA HERE

Hermes wrote:

...When privitisation occurs, we'll be thankful for it! ...

I hope you are joking!

Water privatisation is certainly a roaring success in www.psiru.org/reports/2001-02-W-UK-over.doc+water+privatisation+england&hl=ga&ct=clnk&cd=4&gl=ie&client=firefox-a" class="postlink" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">England:
"one of the most consistent critics of the industry was the Daily Mail, a staunch supporter of the Conservative party. In 1994 the paper ran a feature entitled ‘The Great water Robbery’, which slated the companies on all counts: “In recent weeks the penny has been dropping that something has gone horrendously wrong with the privatisation of Britain's water industry. When it was privatised in 1989 the water industry was hailed as the jewel in the crown of the Thatcherite privatisation programme….In reality, as a string of reports have confirmed - including the latest today from the National Consumer Council - the water industry has become the biggest rip-off in Britain. Water bills, both to households and industry, have soared. And the directors and shareholders of Britain's top ten water companies have been able to use their position as monopoly suppliers to pull off the greatest act of licensed robbery in our history ”

It also went well in Bolivia:
"However, to borrow a phrase, the road to bad public policy is often paved with good intentions.Bolivia's experience with bank-forced water privatization is a striking example of the yawning gap between World Bank theory and how things actually work in the real world for the poor families who have to live with the results ... sudden price hikes, needed in part to finance the 16 percent annual profit demandedby the companies, led to citywide protests and eventually to Bechtel's and Abengoa's ouster. The Bolivian government declared martial law in an effort to save the companies' contract, leaving one teenage boy dead and more than 100 people wounded."

It is not too far fetched to describe our fair land and a mix between England and Bolivia, so what's not to look forward to?

Bottoms up!

coc wrote:

Hermes wrote:

...When privitisation occurs, we'll be thankful for it! ...

I hope you are joking!

Water privatisation is certainly a roaring success in www.psiru.org/reports/2001-02-W-UK-over.doc+water+privatisation+england&hl=ga&ct=clnk&cd=4&gl=ie&client=firefox-a" class="postlink" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">England:
"one of the most consistent critics of the industry was the Daily Mail, a staunch supporter of the Conservative party. In 1994 the paper ran a feature entitled ‘The Great water Robbery’, which slated the companies on all counts: “In recent weeks the penny has been dropping that something has gone horrendously wrong with the privatisation of Britain's water industry. When it was privatised in 1989 the water industry was hailed as the jewel in the crown of the Thatcherite privatisation programme….In reality, as a string of reports have confirmed - including the latest today from the National Consumer Council - the water industry has become the biggest rip-off in Britain. Water bills, both to households and industry, have soared. And the directors and shareholders of Britain's top ten water companies have been able to use their position as monopoly suppliers to pull off the greatest act of licensed robbery in our history ”

It also went well in Bolivia:
"However, to borrow a phrase, the road to bad public policy is often paved with good intentions.Bolivia's experience with bank-forced water privatization is a striking example of the yawning gap between World Bank theory and how things actually work in the real world for the poor families who have to live with the results ... sudden price hikes, needed in part to finance the 16 percent annual profit demandedby the companies, led to citywide protests and eventually to Bechtel's and Abengoa's ouster. The Bolivian government declared martial law in an effort to save the companies' contract, leaving one teenage boy dead and more than 100 people wounded."

It is not too far fetched to describe our fair land and a mix between England and Bolivia, so what's not to look forward to?

Bottoms up!

I was remembering last night with nostalgia when there was one telephone company with plenty of depots and trained staff and the phones worked. When there were storms in europe our boys were sent over to sort them out. Now we have a sorry and wasteful farrago of duplicated bad services.