Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

I support the amendment. As the Minister of State is well aware, the People Before Profit Alliance strenuously opposes the Government's plan to introduce water charges and establish a company that will commence the process of privatisation, notwithstanding its denials that this is the case. I assure the Minister of State that there will be a major campaign of resistance to the Government's plan to charge people for water. This campaign will put into the shade the level of opposition to the household charge and property tax. If, however, the Government insists on going down that road, as appears to be the case, I do not understand the reason it is unwilling to provide exemptions for those who are unable to pay the charges. Why does it not get the idea that one cannot get blood from a stone?

It is obscene that people on the very lowest incomes will not be exempt from water charges. Dependence on State payments such as jobseeker's allowance, jobseeker's benefit and the lone parent payment is an indicator that the recipient is living in poverty and struggling to survive from day to day, week to week and month to month. It is obnoxious to expect people in this position not only to pay the property tax that will be imposed in the coming weeks, but also to pay for water, which is indispensable to life, hygiene and basic health and safety. I appeal to the Minister of State to at least include in the Bill a provision exempting such groups from water charges.

I suspect the Minister of State knows full well that the action the Government is taking in this legislation will lead to privatisation. As I pointed out to him, European law, as enshrined in various treaties, specifically, the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, requires that once revenue is being generated in any particular sector by a monopoly, the sector in question must become subject to the laws of competition. As a result, private companies will seek to enter the water market and it will be privatised. We know this is the case because it is exactly what happened in the area of waste collection when charges were introduced. At that time, the Government indicated it would provide waivers and the public authorities provided some waivers for people on the lowest incomes. However, as soon as waste collection was privatised, the waivers were abolished and people who were unable to pay were forced to pay. We are now taking exactly the same route.

Given the Government's despicable insistence on introducing water charges, will it not at least insert these protections so that this or any other water company will not be able to charge people on the lowest incomes or deny them water because they cannot afford it?

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