Joe Higgins (Dublin West, Socialist Party)

The Water Services Bill, under cover of modernising the legislation, provides a framework for the privatisation of the water supply in this State and for the introduction of the hated water charges which a magnificent movement of ordinary people power forced out in 1996. A water tax may not be introduced before the next general election. The Government remembers what happened in the mid 1990s and the reaction of decent taxpayers in Dublin to the hated bin tax, for example. It may not want to risk introducing them before the general election, but the Minister should be honest. The Government wants a water tax. Senior people in various Departments want water tax, not as a conservation but as a revenue raising measure. Public private partnership, as provided for in this Bill, is a preparation for privatisation. Outsourcing is invariably a preparation for privatisation of public services. Witness Aer Lingus. The Comptroller and Auditor General in his recent report exploded the myth that public private partnerships gave value to the taxpayer. In the case of the six schools which he examined he found a stunning 13% to 9% greater cost than if they had been supplied in full public ownership.

The supply of water is a crucial service. It is a life and death matter in many countries where billions of people do not have access to clean drinking water but it is wrong of elements of the media to hint, as did even the Minister, that this is a free supply. Householders, working people and taxpayers have paid for the infrastructure that provides clean water to our homes and other premises. That is the point and that is why it is available.

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