Thomas Pringle (Donegal South West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

For the past couple of weeks the Taoiseach has been harping on about today's announcement bringing clarity, certainty and predictability to the Irish Water pricing regime. It has brought clarity because it is clear that the Government has lost its mandate to govern. It has brought certainty because it is certain that the protests against Irish Water and the Government will continue. It is predictable that the citizens of the country will punish the Government for the policies it has pursued in the past four years.

The Taoiseach correctly noted that the protests were about more than water. Water is currently the focus of the protests, but they are also about the Government's betrayal of the people and the so-called democratic revolution that it harped on about in 2011. The citizens of the country are sick and tired of this and the previous Government. They must have their say if they are to be able to punish the Government for betraying their good will. The Government is afraid of them. The Minister for the Environment, community and Local Government, Deputy Alan Kelly, said that every citizen of good would look favourably on these figures, but he intends to give landlords the legal power to deduct unpaid water bills from tenants' deposits. That will simply push up the size of deposits. In addition to a deposit of one month's rent, tenants will have to pay €300 or €400 to cover their landlords for potential bills in the future. That will just continue the cycle of homelessness and unavoidability that affects the private rent sector.

The Government has stated these measures are about water conservation, but that claim has been shown to be untrue. They are about revenue generation and getting people to accept the principle of paying for water in order that the service can be privatised in the future, irrespective of any legislation requiring a plebiscite. The Minister has stated that if citizens reduce their consumption by 10% to 15%, they will beat the cap on water charges and thereby reduce their bills. Last week representatives of Irish Water stated in front of a Dáil committee that metering would only reduce consumption by 6%. How will people achieve the level of reduction required to beat the cap? This evening purchase.iepublished figures that show that a five adult household would have to reduce consumption by 71% to beat the cap. That is not possible. If the Government was serious about conservation, it would have taken the €529 million from installing meters across the country and used it to roll out a district metering programme, whereby bulk meters would be installed to monitor mains and detect leaks. In the real world I worked in water services for Donegal County Council and in a water treatment plant. I have fixed and detected leaks. Proper district metering would identify leaks on citizens' connections and mains. Not one meter installed by Irish Water at a citizen's household will detect a mains leak.

The Government claims that replacing lead piping is a priority for Irish Water. Five years ago Donegal County Council successfully rolled out a programme to identify and replace lead connections across the county. This could be done across the country. Local authorities have been implementing such programmes for many years. If the Government was serious about water infrastructure, it would make the money available for this to happen. The local authorities concerned did this work free of charge for citizens and without fuss. That is not what the Government wants, however, because it is trying to persuade citizens to accept the principle of paying for water in order that Irish Water can be privatised in the future. Much was made about the requirement to hold a plebiscite before anything could happen to Irish Water, but tomorrow morning Government Deputies will vote down legislation to facilitate a referendum on inserting a right to water into the Constitution. That legislation could have been amended or the Government could have held the referendum with the other referendums planned for next year.

Irish Water may not be sold off as a corporate entity, but as the service level agreements with local authorities come up for renewal in 2025, the Commission for Energy Regulation which was established to deregulate the electricity market and enforce competition will insist on open competition for the service level agreements. We will see the likes of Veolia, Severn Trent and Celtic Anglian Water jockeying for regional service level agreements with Irish Water. They will have the best of both worlds because they will be paid huge amounts to maintain the system, but they will have none of the responsibility. That is the type of privatisation which will be forced on the people in years to come. It will take time to materialise, which is why people will have to continue with their protests. The Government does not have a mandate, as the citizens are making clear. This Friday the Can't Pay, Won't Pay group in Donegal will organise a 24 hour protest outside the office of the Minister of State at the Department of Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht, Deputy Joe McHugh, in Letterkenny. The numbers attending that protest will show that the so-called clarity, certainty and predictability will not wash with citizens. On 10 December there will be a mass mobilisation outside Leinster House and many thousands of people will show this is not what the citizens want. The Government's only option is either to abolish Irish Water and water charges or go to the country in a referendum in order that the people can give their answer.

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