Ruth Coppinger (Dublin West, Socialist Party) | Oireachtas source

I wonder whether the Cabinet has been watching reruns of "Only Fools and Horses". Today's attempt to sell dodgy goods at a discount is reminiscent of Trotter's Independent Trading. I am sure the Minister of State, Deputy Paudie Coffey, is familiar with the series. In the Christmas episode in 1992 Del Boy convinced Rodney that they would put tap water into bottles and sell them as "Peckham Spring" to unwitting plonkers - to use the Cockney phrase - wallies and dipsticks. They think things are lovely jubbly and cushty, as Del Boy would say, until the entire scam falls apart.

I am not sure which of these roles, Rodney or Del Boy, applies to the Taoiseach and which to the Tánaiste, but I am sure they will not find enough plonkers to buy their repackaged and discounted goods from the back of their three-wheeled Reliant Regal. Their discounted goods are not wanted and, as every man and woman knows, when the sale ends, the goods go back to their original price. The Government wants to introduce these charges before raising them at some time in the future. This is what happened with bin charges, whose introduction the Government continually points out we failed to prevent. One need only look at what happened as a consequence of that failure; that is the point we are making. What happened was the waivers went, standing charges were introduced, and tags and bags doubled in price.

Ministers have spoken about legislation the Government will introduce to prevent any cap being lifted until 2019. What a joke. Do they really think they are dealing with an uneducated rabble out there? They have no control over what any future government might do and cannot order it to hold a referendum. The only way to guarantee a referendum will be held is to put something in the Constitution in the first place.

Ministers said they listened to what people had to say. I have been on a lot of protests and have not seen any banner mentioning affordability or clarity. People had two points to make, namely, to demand that water charges be abolished and to proclaim, "No way, we will not pay." The Government listened to what was being said but chose to ignore it.

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