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

The arrogance of the Government is absolutely breathtaking. The contempt the Taoiseach and his Ministers have shown for the Dáil, Opposition Deputies and the hundreds of thousands of people we represent demonstrates that they have lost touch with the real world. The irony and hypocrisy of the Minister's announcement in introducing water charges will not be lost on the general public. During the most recent general election campaign the Minister and the Labour Party asked people in Tipperary North to vote for him to prevent the Fine Gael Party from imposing water charges. He stood on a Labour Party manifesto which opposed water charges. His party broadcast the so-called Tesco advertisement in which people were warned not to vote for Fine Gael because it wanted to introduce water charges. By introducing them, the Minister has done a U-turn and broken the promises and commitments he and his party made. This hypocrisy is undermining democracy.

Not to be outdone, the Tánaiste and leader of the Labour Party, Deputy Joan Burton, contrary to commitments and promises made by her party, has presided over the destruction of the social welfare system. The child poverty rate stands at 28.6%, with 130,000 additional children living in poverty. Without doubt, these children have been affected by the savage cuts in child benefit introduced by the Tánaiste. Other cuts introduced by her include the abolition of the telephone allowance, reductions in the respite care grant, the free fuel scheme, electricity payments, maternity benefit and the one parent family payment, as well as the abolition of the bereavement grant, and the list goes on.

Despite election promises, the Government is implementing the austerity policies of the previous Fianna Fáil-Green Party Government. It cannot be trusted and does not have a mandate for austerity or the introduction of water charges. The lie is being peddled that the public will not pay for water.

See this speech in context