Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

For the tenth time we are looking at Government proposals on this issue, so we have been looking at them time and again. For over six months the Government has been saying it understands the scale of public anger about Irish Water and water charges. There have been near-constant meetings of the Cabinet and Cabinet sub-committees to find a way off the hook. This issue was central to a budget announced a little over a month ago. After large-scale demonstrations throughout the country, there have been emergency meetings and there has been a desperate scramble to rescue Irish Water. This is not about Irish Water mark two. It is a desperate scramble to rescue the Government from the mess it created.

Yet for all of this, the crisis will continue, because the Government will still not acknowledge that its entire water policy is a shambles and should be scrapped.

This will not be the final announcement, because it leaves in place a policy that wastes large amounts of public money, is inefficient and obliges people to pay for unacceptably poor services and poor water quality. George Orwell's Animal Farmis on the junior certificate syllabus for 2015. His spirit is alive and well in the Orwellian language used by Government spokespersons, including the Taoiseach, the Tánaiste and Ministers. Standing back from the politics, I have never witnessed such a complex payment method in all my life. Irish Water sends a bill for €260 while the Department of Social Protection sends a cheque for €100. The Government calls this a water conservation bill, which is as Orwellian as it gets. It is incredible.

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