Pearse Doherty (Donegal South West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Ordinary citizens and families across the State are being forced to pay yet another regressive tax to repay the banking debt that was not theirs in the first place. Those responsible for creating the economic crisis, the collapse of our public finances, forced emigration and mass unemployment remain unaccountable for their actions. This Bill is a typical Fianna Fáil stunt. Its members come in here and shake their fists, but cannot accept that this is part of their great master plan. Fianna Fáil supports water charges and this sort of sideshow will fool nobody. Sinn Féin believes the political choices a government makes are defined by its view of society, its ambition, its ideological anchor and the interests it seeks to represent. The Fine Gael and Labour Party Government continues to make choices that are not in the interests of the vast majority of citizens and that are in contravention of the mandate it was given by the people in 2011.

Despite its pledge to do things differently, Fine Gael and the Labour Party have recycled the failed politics and the old way of doing business, which was the cause of the economic and political crisis in the first place. The water charge was conceived by the previous Fianna Fáil and Green Party Government, which agreed the unfair policy with the troika as part of its financial bailout in December 2010. At the time, the Government said it had got the best deal. Sinn Féin strongly disagreed. When the Dáil voted on a motion on Wednesday 15 December 2010 to support the terms of the financial bailout, Sinn Féin voted to reject the deal, as did the Labour Party, whose members are absent tonight. Its then leader, Deputy Eamon Gilmore, said:

Labour is opposing the motion because what is on offer is a bad deal for Ireland. In the coming election we will seek a mandate to renegotiate the programme.

As we know, the Labour leadership did no such thing. It did a U-turn in government and is implementing the very policy against which it rallied.

Before coming here I checked the Labour Party's website and looked at a statement it issued just after the announcement by the Fianna Fáil and Green Party Government that it would introduce water charges, as follows:

The Labour Party believes that water is a basic and fundamental need and should not be treated like a market commodity ... Charging for domestic water, in the light of our current taxation system, will only add to inequality, since such charges don’t take account of people’s ability to pay.

The Labour Party was right, but it is wrong now to do a U-turn on that position.

Providing reliable, high-quality water and sewerage services which are economically sustainable is a major challenge for any government. Sinn Féin has first-hand experience and a strong record of delivering exactly this in the North. In May 2007, when the power-sharing institutions at Stormont were restored, Sinn Féin decided to reverse the plans by British direct rule Ministers to introduce household water charges. Sinn Féin also ruled out any future privatisation of these critical public services by ensuring that the Executive, under the Northern Ireland Department for Regional Development, remained the sole shareholder of the newly established utility company Northern Ireland Water. Today, according to the Utility Regulator in the North, households save an average of €490 annually as a result of the decision Sinn Féin took.

We did not leave it there. We did not just reverse the British decision to introduce water charges. Between 2007 and 2011, we injected €1 billion in investment in major upgrades in the North's water and sewerage infrastructure, benefitting almost 1 million households and businesses. It has improved drinking water quality, protected the environment and supported the local economy. Fine Gael and the Labour Party know exactly what was achieved in the North because since January 2012, the Government has been in contact with the Department for Regional Development and Northern Ireland Water exploring all these matters.

Despite seeing how best practice and putting citizen's needs first delivers an efficient water and sewerage service, Fine Gael chose to impose the unfair household water charge on families as promised by the previous Fianna Fáil Government. Households will receive their first bills in January 2015 and it is up to every person to decide how to deal with them. We will not lead them down the path of telling them there are no consequences for not paying and then abandoning them when the consequences of their choice become apparent.

Sinn Féin believes households already pay for these services through their income tax and that citizens should not be forced to pay twice through a new separate bill for water and sewerage services. Sinn Féin is vigorously opposed to the introduction of these charges. The Fine Gael Bill supports the introduction of charges as it was Fine Gael's proposal which is now being delivered by that party and Labour. Sinn Féin believes the best way to provide reliefs for households is to abandon regressive charges altogether. We will in the next number of weeks show in our alternative budget how we can reduce the deficit, balance the books and, at the same time, abandon the nonsensical idea of introducing a regressive water charge for people the length and breadth of the State. I ask the Government and those who were in the previous Government to see the light and come around to the view that water charges should not be imposed on families already crippled by seven austerity budgets.

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