Clare Daly (Dublin North, Socialist Party)

Amendment No. 1 reads as follows:

To add the following to the motion:

"— calls on householders to actively resist the imposition of a water tax by a campaign of civil disobedience and mass non-payment;

— calls on the trade union movement to actively resist any moves towards the implementation of a water tax or the privatisation of water supply including with industrial action; and

— demands a substantial scheme for a major programme of retrofitting homes with water conservation devices and technology which could save billions of litres of treated drinking water each year."

I propose to share time with Deputies Joan Collins, Catherine Murphy, Luke 'Ming' Flanagan and Maureen O'Sullivan. The trouncing given to Silvio Berlusconi's drive towards water privatisation in the Italian referendum last week should serve as a warning to Fine Gael and Labour about the critical nature of water and the way in which people deal with water. Two weeks ago, the assembled suits were in Croke Park and the Minister was slobbering over the prospect of profiteering from the Government's decision to introduce water metering. This gives an indication of the real agenda, that water is being viewed as the new gold and the new oil, something for private interests to get their hands on and profiteer from. In moving the amendment put forward by the United Left Alliance Deputies, I put the Government on notice that they will not get away with this. It will be a step too far and we pledge publicly to initiate a campaign of mass non-payment and civil disobedience that will succeed in making the tax uncollectible, as we did in the 1990s.

The Government has a cheek to try to dress up this attempt to extort extra taxation in the guise of an environmental measure. Half of the State's housing stock was developed since we last abolished water charges and not one measure for water conservation was implemented. Not one measure has been taken to deal with leaks. The idea of taking money out of the pockets of workers who have already paid for essential public services, of which water is a crucial one, in ordinary taxation and taxing them again is economic lunacy. It takes money out of their pockets that they could otherwise spend in shops and small businesses. It is absolutely punitive because studies show how little disposable income families have, particularly in advance of the next hike in interest rates. The Government would do well to remember what happened to Margaret Thatcher when she attempted to bring in such charges. In circumstances where people could not pay and did not pay, that will be the rallying call of the communities and it should be the call of the unions. This will check this Government in its a vicious attack on the living standards of ordinary people and the attempts to make an essential public service a commodity. In the same way as the Italians can make a stand on it, people in Ireland will also take a stand.

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