Dessie Ellis (Dublin North West, Sinn Fein)

Tá uisce an-tábhachtach do gach éinne. Caithfimid an seirbhís uisce saor in aisce a chosaint. Tá formhór na ndaoine ag streachailt faoi láthair, seachas airgead breise a íoc. Is mór an trua é nach bhfuil na píopaíá deisiú againn. Sábhálfadh sé sin airgead agus uisce, in ionad brú maoine a chur ar daoine.

When he spoke out against water charges in the past the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade, Deputy Eamon Gilmore, said, "Water charges are just another tax on workers, on top of PAYE, PRSI and levies". He was right then and he is still right. Water charges are a tax on the poor and the working people of this State.

They are a double tax at a time when workers are paying more than could be considered a fair share to fund the black hole that is the banks and have been obliged to accept the dead end that is the EU-IMF deal. They are being introduced by the more-of-the-same Fianna Fáil-lite Government whose members sit opposite us.

The first line of the motion before the House, which was tabled by my colleagues in Sinn Féin and I, states that "access to water and sewerage services for domestic use is a universally recognised and basic human right". Access to clean water on an equitable basis must be recognised as a fundamental right in any society. How can it be considered equitable that those who shoulder the largest burden in our economy - I refer here to the people who have faced the brunt of the cuts introduced to fund the banks and who the Government wants to continue to toil until they reach the age of 68 - should only be able to access water on the basis of their ability to pay for it? Does the Government really want to create a situation whereby families will be obliged not just to budget in respect of groceries, clothes, etc., but also to make decisions on which members can have showers on any given day or on whether the windows can be washed? Some Members on the opposite side of the Chamber might deny the possibility of that becoming a reality but when one in five people have only €70 left at the end of the month, how can they doubt that it will come to pass?

The residents of St. Teresa's Gardens, Dolphin House and other estates and complexes, as a result of the State's dedication to providing exorbitant profits to developers, must use water that has been contaminated with sewage. That is something one might expect to find in a Third World refugee camp. Will these residents be expected to pay for the luxury of running water? I accept that there is a need bring the wasting of water to an end. However, one will not find savings in this regard in the ordinary households of Ireland where water is an essential resource. They can only be achieved by overhauling disastrously poor and outdated water infrastructure which successive Governments have allowed to rot in the ground. Some 36% of treated water goes unaccounted for in Dublin City Council's area of remit. If this figure is representative of the entire State, then according to the local government efficiency review group approximately 500 million litres of water go unaccounted for each day. If the Government expects to make water savings of that order from households, then a huge number of children and windows will go unwashed.

The Government has not made a major effort to introduce water saving technologies to houses throughout the State. If the ecological argument had any real place in the Government's thinking, then introducing such technologies would surely have been the first step it should have taken. Since 2003, local authorities have drawn down less than 50% of the money offered in respect of such measures. When adopted, measures the type of measures to which I refer work. According to the local government efficiency review group, the variable speed drives that were installed at the Leixlip water treatment plant paid for themselves in under ten months, resulted in ongoing savings of €40,000 per month and reduced carbon emissions by 360 tonnes per year.

The working people of this State cannot afford another double tax. We cannot afford to allow our water infrastructure to continue to deteriorate by scapegoating those to whom I refer. There are very real and immediate savings to be made through the introduction of top-down water saving measures. We should not try to make savings in respect of every litre of water which struggling families can no longer afford but rather we should try to save the millions of litres that are being lost as a result of leaks in the system.

The Tánaiste was correct when he stated that water charges are wrong. I urge everyone in this Chamber to think of those who struggle to pay their bills each week. These people are hard-working and decent, and they are under great stress. Members should vote with those people and support the motion.

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