Joe Higgins (Dublin West, Socialist Party) | Oireachtas source

Is it not incredible that weeks before the Minister's metering programme is due to start, he can provide no figures for the cost of the programme? I suggest the Minister, even at this late stage, carry out a cost-benefit analysis. He will find that if the investment were made in water conservation and rehabilitation of the network and so forth, it would be far more beneficial. Far more real jobs would be created as a result. I am glad that he recognises that taxpayers have funded our water supply up to now. That gets us past the rubbish that comes from him when it suits him and the media that we have free water, which is a ploy to justify water charges. When one considers property tax and the water charges which the Minister intends to apply very soon, talking about a figure of €1,000 per household is very realistic, even if it is completely unaffordable and a huge burden. In fact, what the Minister is planning is not a programme for water conservation primarily but a programme for the commodification of water, bringing this crucial, natural resource into a situation where it will eventually be a product for the capitalist marketplace and privatisation in the water corporations he supports. He supports that philosophy, but it is not in the interests of the majority of the people.

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