Water Protests: The grassroots campaign hits front pages all over the country

A timeline of a crisis.

BACK IN APRIL, TheJournal.ie began to report on small protests that were taking place in housing estates across the country as Irish Water workers tried to install meters.

A number of people were arrested by gardaí as scuffles with Irish Water staff were seen as homeowners refused access.

The movement was quite slow to gather pace but it never went away, despite the installation of hundreds of thousands of meters.

However, as we got closer to the charges being turned on, the dissenting voices became louder and more adamant.

They will not pay, they told the government in their droves.

On 20 September, hundreds of people came to O’Connell Street to rally against what they see as the introduction a ‘double tax’.

PastedImage-25198 Leah Farrell / Photocall Leah Farrell / Photocall / Photocall

The protesters dispute the original figures – estimate by gardaí – claiming there were thousands of people at the march.

However, the numbers were not big enough to get nationwide media coverage or bother the coalition.

That was all about to change, however, as confusion about how, when and how much people would pay for their water services compounded the already palpable anger.

By October 11, tens of thousands of people were ready to take action.

PastedImage-30044 Sam Boal / Photocall Ireland Sam Boal / Photocall Ireland / Photocall Ireland

Estimates for that march range between 80,000 and 100,000.

The demonstration, which started at the Garden of Remembrance earlier, took protesters down O’Connell Street to the Dáil, before turning back and settling at the GPO to hear speeches.

Buoyed by the turnout – and the help of a number of sitting TDs – the Right2WaterIreland campaign set about to organised a countrywide protest. It encouraged people in every town and city in the country to organise a rally.

They expected 100,000 and they got them. We liveblogged the events, while local reporters were out and about to ask what was motivating people to take to the streets.

Here is what the papers found: