Brendan Ogle claims the crowd at #Right2Water protest is between 70,000 and 80,000 people. #right2waterireland pic.twitter.com/FKjLXql2Ru

— Cork’s 96FM (@Corks96FM)

December 10, 2014

He might want to ogle them a bit more as almost all official estimates put it at 30,000 to 35,000. That’s still a huge number for a country that is as slow to protest as it is to correctly file a tax return. 

And now for the definition of irony:

The news will come as shock to members of the ESB unions, coming as it does just weeks after Mr Ogle successfully led a campaign to have their main pension scheme reclassified and treated as a defined benefit scheme.

But the campaign is said to have taken its toll on the Co Louth native, who was subject to much adverse media comment over the threat of power cuts in the run up to Christmas.

Prior to heading up the ESB group of unions, Mr Ogle led the Irish Locomotive Drivers Association, which was involved in a three month long dispute in the summer of 2000 which crippled some of the country’s main rail routes.

More recently he courted controversy after being filmed at a meeting describing ESB workers as “spoilt” and saying they had benefited from plenty of “gravy” during the boom.

He once threatened to cut off a vital utility at Christmas over a pension dispute, and also led strikes in public transport. Right2Water me hole.