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

The Minister tells us he believes his package will be seen as fair and accepted by the majority of people. That is further proof of how completely out of touch the Government is. It really does not get it. People have gone way beyond the idea of tinkering with this toxic entity. The only thing that will satisfy the population at this stage is the abolition of water charges in their entirety, the recognition that water is a human right and a public service that should be funded from progressive central taxation and that the Irish Water entity is so ill-conceived that it can never work. The Government would do the taxpayer a favour by abandoning it now and refusing to throw good money after bad. If it does not, it will be its legacy and a monument to its arrogance.

It is a bit of a sick joke that things have got so ridiculous in the Government's statements that it tries to tell us we could make money out of it if we worked our water meters well. In any case, who would believe the Government anymore? It is comprised of the same people who told us in the last weeks and months that it had to have the PPS numbers to make the scheme work, but now tells us it does not. The levies had to be at the amounts being demanded by the CER, but now they do not. The Government told us it did not need to change the law to protect Irish Water from privatisation as it was there already, but now it is being changed. The Government's backflipping would be the envy of a professional acrobat. Everyone knows the only reason the Government is making these changes is the unprecedented people's movement. Everyone knows the Government's desperate efforts here are simply an attempt to hook people in to get the charge established. Once that happens, it will rise relentlessly. It is precisely for that reason that the Government will fail as people have made it clear that they cannot and will not pay. They are sick of managing and of getting up early in the morning to work longer and harder for years.

The Government's idea of dressing up this extortion as a means of improving the water infrastructure is insulting. The Tánaiste made the point last night that she was shocked to hear of raw sewerage going into the sea. I was shocked that she was, as the dogs in the street know that to be the case. Why does the Government not fix it? One would think there had never been any investment in infrastructure in the State. There was and when it happened it worked well. The Government and its predecessor managed to slash investment in water infrastructure by 70% since 2008. Not only that, but capital programmes which were underway were axed when Irish Water came on the scene. Projects planned by local authorities were shelved and the Government has not put a single water butt onto a Government building not to mind dealing with anything else in terms of conservation. Instead, the Government has decided to continue to throw away hundreds of millions of euro of taxpayers' money on the installation of water meters notwithstanding previous studies saying it was an uneconomic proposition in the context of revenue generation and despite the fact that the Government has abandoned it anyway by reverting to a flat charge whereby millionaires pay the same as those on social welfare.

The people know we have paid for our water supply already at €1.2 billion per annum. We are paying twice now through €700 million in property tax and pension funds which are being frittered away on Irish Water.

People have said they will not pay a third time or have the Government charge us a fourth time in repaying the borrowings. If the issue was one of infrastructure, why did the Government provide tax breaks in the recent budget for the top 17% of earners to the tune of €400 million when this measure would only yield €90 million?

See this speech in context