Séamus Healy (Tipperary South, Workers and Unemployed Action Group) | Oireachtas source

The views of Professor Kathleen Lynch, head of the UCD school of social justice, are appropriate in this discussion. She has argued that water is a public good that cannot and should not be commodified, commercialised or privatised, and it is the duty of the State to protect people's right to safe, secure, accessible and affordable water. She has argued that what is a public good cannot and must not be turned into a profit-making opportunity for multinational corporations. In that context, I welcome the proposal for a referendum.

This proposal first saw life as a smoke screen to divert attention from the central issue of the day, the abolition of hated water charges, which is what the public wants. The calls came from the likes of Eamon Ryan, the leader of the Green Party, who was responsible, along with Fianna Fáil, for putting water charges on the agenda, as well as Labour Party backbenchers who were chasing any fig leaf behind which they could hide their broken promises. Their 2011 manifesto opposed water charges and they had a spoof advertisement lambasting Fine Gael for proposing such a charge.

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Calls also came from Labour Senators involved in internecine party strife on convenient issues. The SIPTU leader, Jack O'Connor, is a Government supporter who is completely out of touch with the union's members and he and assorted others are in favour of these hated water charges.

A huge number of the risen people have taken to the streets and they should not be regarded as fools. They will not be taken in by a smokescreen or cynical tricks on referendums and allowances. They will not be sold a pup again, as they were by the Labour Party in 2011. The public will not accept a referendum as a quid pro quofor accepting water charges for families, whatever the rate charged and whatever the period of charge restrictions. The people know that if water charges are put in place they will rise to the full cost of recovery under EU law. They also know that the abolition of water charges must go hand in hand with a referendum. Only people power can secure such an abolition of charges and the most important task for the risen people is to turn out in huge numbers for the national demonstration on 10 December in Dublin. They must support their local protests too and I call on people in Tipperary to do so next Saturday in Nenagh and on Saturday, 29 November in Clonmel.

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