Dáil debates

Tuesday, 21 October 2014

Irish Water: Motion [Private Members]

 

9:10 pm

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

I was listening to the Minister, Deputy Alan Kelly, talking about his grand vision. He repeatedly used the word "vision". It struck me that I was listening to a Labour Party Minister in a Labour Party-Fine Gael Government. I was wondering what the founding father of the labour movement would have thought of his vision. The vision the Minister spoke about in this Chamber is different from the vision that many ordinary people in this State have. As they see it, a Labour Party Minister is imposing additional charges on people who are already struggling to pay for the austerity measures that were imposed on them by this Government and its predecessor, which was led by Fianna Fáil. The vision they fear is the bill from Irish Water dropping through their letterboxes next January. They are wondering which they will have to compromise on over the next few months in order to pay the Irish Water bill. That is the vision of the Labour Party. That was the vision of the Minister, Deputy Kelly, when he stood up proudly in the Chamber this evening. That is the problem with all of this. It was the problem with the Fianna Fáil motion. It is not surprising that Fianna Fáil is wobbling on this issue, while sticking to its principles of imposing a water tax on people who cannot afford such a tax even though they have been paying for water through general taxation for many decades.

The Government does not understand that people are saying they simply do not have the money to pay for water. Regardless of what way the Government asks for it, or what way it dresses this up, people simply do not have the money. It is simply not there. It is another burden that will be placed on people. It really surprises me that this Government got out of touch with the public so quickly. We experienced the same thing in the last Administration, when a Government led by Fianna Fáil was completely out of touch with ordinary people. Its members were living in their own bubble or silo. They were completely unaware of what was happening. This Government has become spectacularly out of touch with people within a very short period of time. It fails to understand where people are at. It fails to understand that people are asking chemists which of their medications they really need because they cannot afford the prescription charges for them all. It fails to understand that people are homeless because they cannot afford to rent houses. An individual who contacted me yesterday has been homeless for 14 days because the bank took possession of his house. He cannot get any emergency accommodation. He was being kept in bed and breakfasts and hotels, but the local authority has said it cannot do that anymore. The Government is failing to understand where people are at.

Deputy Stanley referred to Irish Water as a "monster" that has been created. The Government washed its hands of the payment of €80 million to consultants by saying that the former Minister, Phil Hogan, is over in Europe now. The Government and the Taoiseach claim to have nothing to do with the bonus culture within Irish Water. When the Taoiseach and the Labour Party were on this side of the House, they rightly decried the bonus culture within the banks. The Government of the day was forced to introduce a protocol which said that no bonuses could be paid. Indeed, in cases of contractual bonuses that could not be scuppered or cancelled, a clawback measure was included in the Finance Bill to apply to any bonus that might be paid. This is possible if the political will is there. Some new revelations in this regard came out today, as they are doing every day. We learned that information given to Irish Water in confidence about people who are willing to pay these water charges was given to third parties. We know of at least ten individuals whose bank details were given to landlords. In all sincerity, who in their right mind would give personal details to Irish Water, in light of the manner in which it has abused very sensitive information so far?

The Taoiseach misleads the Dáil time and time again when he says that every child in the State will have a free water allocation. I would like to nail this one to the mast and show it for what it is. Only children who are in receipt of child benefit will get the free water allowance. Some categories of children will not get it. As early school leavers - 16 and 17 year olds - do not get child benefit, they will not get the free water allowance. Returning emigrants who cannot satisfy the habitual residency clause will not get the allowance. Children whose parents work in the North or in another European jurisdiction and do not get a top-up of child benefit will not get the allowance. This is not hypothetical. I know of a family in Letterkenny, with four children consuming water, on which a charge of an additional €408 will be imposed.

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