Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

This morning, there were reports in the media of a very shocking survey released by MABS, which is the agency that assists households in debt. The survey confirms what many of us already know, namely, that the average disposable income of people using MABS services is a mere €8.75 per week. That is all they have left after they pay the rent or mortgage and bills and pay for food and basic necessities for themselves and their children. There is no recovery for these families. Hundreds of thousands of families in work and out - those on low and middle incomes - are still struggling to survive. There is no virtuous economic cycle for them. In fact, they are at their wits' end and simply have no more to give. The MABS report confirms that the imposition of the property tax along with water charges will push many of these families over the edge. The Tánaiste knows this. She knows that these families are at breaking point yet she insists on pushing ahead with water charges.

My question to the Tánaiste is very simple. How does she expect or recommend to these families that they pay €500 or more per year for their water? What household essentials does she advise them to cut back on? What does she think these families ought to go without? I am sure the MABS report makes very sobering and startling reading for all of us and confirms yet again how wrong-headed and unfair this Government's approach has been, particularly in taxing the family home and now with the imposition of a tax on domestic water.

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