Ruth Coppinger (Dublin West, Socialist Party) | Oireachtas source

We already pay for water. Who does the Government think is paying for it? Is it the tooth fairy? Some €1.2 billion is the cost of getting water to our taps, of which €1 billion is paid by households, with €200 million being paid by businesses. The amounts Irish Water is sending around in the packs are illusory. When the cap is lifted after six months, people will receive the real bill based on what they use. Some 148 litres per day is the usage level in the greatest study conducted in the greater Dublin area. That means that two adults will not be paying €278 but €380. It means that households with four adults, of which there are many, will pay €908. This will be the most savage austerity bill householders will face. The message of the Socialist Party and the Anti-Austerity Alliance, of which we are part, is simple: people should not pay. These bills will sink households and the Revenue Commissioners are not involved. The bill cannot be stolen or deducted from people's wages and income, in the way the property can, and we can build a boycott of bills and a mass campaign on non-payment to defeat it. The Anti-Austerity Alliance leaflet was launched on the Internet and, within a day, there were 3,000 likes. Some 65 people attended a meeting in Jobstown, west Tallaght, which is not a area in which there are normally large meetings. The Government seriously underestimates the levels of hatred and poverty.

My message is that we will build a campaign on non-payment which we will make a major issue in the Dublin South West by-election. It is rank hypocrisy on the part of Fianna Fáil to table this Bill as it signed off with the troika on full cost recovery. It is also hypocrisy on the part of the Labour Party. This is a totally unjust law and should be challenged by people in a mass campaign.

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