Joe Higgins (Dublin West, Socialist Party) | Oireachtas source

The difficulty is that the Tánaiste has reversed everything she said for ten years when she was in opposition, pretending to be the champion of working-class people. Once she got into power, she decided that she would lash another austerity tax on them in the form of water charges and not even look at the millionaires and billionaires who could afford a few hundred million to pay for the investment that is needed. She saddled people with these charges. Let us forget the nonsense that there is no clarity and no communication. There is communication, and people understand that a family of four, including an 18 and a 19 year old and two adults, will pay just under €500. Similarly, a family of five will pay under €600, and when metering comes in that will rise inexorably.

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