Clare Daly (Dublin North, United Left) | Oireachtas source

This issue is a sad example of the doublespeak that categorises the Government. Ministers are lining up to tell us that austerity is at an end and that there will be a few crumbs thrown in the budget. Meanwhile, the Government is bulldozing through and putting its hands in people's pockets through water charges. It is ironic that we are having this discussion on the day MABS has issued a report and predicted that it will wipe out people's disposable income. The application packs landing on people's floors are causing consternation as they attempt to elicit private and personal information, inconveniencing householders in the process.

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What is more devastating is the prospect of a bill of hundreds of euro which people simply cannot afford to pay. It is a blow too far. Access to water is a fundamental human right and it should be available to all, based on their needs and not on ability to pay. That is a principle worth fighting for because people have already paid for this through their central taxation. Recent studies have shown that the poorest people have paid the most through the disproportionately high level of stealth charges in this economy.

The message the Government should take is that it will be resisted. Many people cannot afford to pay and many others will simply not bother sending back the application packs and why should they. The Government has warned that water pressure will be lowered for those with meters but hardly anyone will have a meter; it has threatened to take the allowances but for those determined not to pay, the question of whether they have the allowances is neither here nor there. I refer the Minister of State to a very frightening example which activists have put on YouTube and on which I ask him to comment which shows that the water system is being left exposed and open to outside interference because of the way in which the meter system has been structured. The Government should take a lead from what happened in Bolivia where a government was toppled over water charges. I think the Government will have a serious fight on its hands on this issue.

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