John Halligan (Waterford, Independent) | Oireachtas source

As a member of the Right2Water campaign, I disassociate myself from some of the scenes in Jobstown last week. I spoke with the Minister for Social Protection an hour ago. It is unacceptable that a woman should be locked in her car for two hours by a tiny minority of militants. The behaviour of some gardaí was also unacceptable, particularly the two gardaí whose treatment of a different woman was broadcast on a number of television programmes. This woman was forcibly thrown against a post and could have been seriously injured. I have no truck with violence from either side.

The demonstrations which took place two weeks ago attracted 7,000 people in Waterford city, 800 in Portlaw and another 800 in Dunmore and Dungarvin, despite torrential rain. I spoke at the demonstration or protest - call it what you like - in Waterford city. At the end of the protest I met a businessman from Waterford and his two daughters. This was a decent man who employs 14 or 15 people. He told me that while he could afford to pay the water tax he was not going to do so because he and his family have had enough. This is the reason why so many people came out on the streets to protest in the last several weeks. It is not essentially about water. Water is the catalyst that drove people over the top. Ordinary, decent people, including the 150,000 who have marched all over the country, are saying enough is enough. The businessman told me he had enough of untruths, false promises and cronyism. The former Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government made a hash of this issue but was rewarded with a better paid job and the security of not having to face the electorate in the next election. People thought all of this had gone away. We have a health service that some people regard as meeting almost third world standards. Some months ago in Waterford city, a dying woman spent her last few hours in a ward shared with five men watching a football match. The ward's toilet was blocked. This woman was in the VHI but was unable to get a private room. She did not die in dignity. Her husband and daughter were on the march. The husband said he was marching because of the way the Government treated his wife. The Minister for Health will be aware of this because a letter was sent to him.

Is the Government not getting this? It is about more than water. It is about the huge companies which tell the Government they will pay whatever amount of tax they feel they should pay, as well as the individuals who are not paying any tax. Documents provided by the Minister for Finance in reply to a Parliamentary Question indicate that the top 1% of income earners in Ireland enjoy a gross income of €8.742 billion, average earnings of €462,000 and an effective tax rate of 26%. The top 10% of earners have a gross income of €29.6 billion, average earnings of €160,000 and an effective tax rate of 24%. Is it any wonder that people are protesting? Does the Government not understand that they have had enough?

The lady who wrote a letter to the Irish Independentdescribing how an exhausted mother had been pushed too far has been extensively quoted but one comment may have been missed. She wrote: "Our reasons for not protesting before were exhaustion, anxiety, fear and not a minute to spare, but this is where it ends." Judging from the emails and texts we are all getting, there will be a huge demonstration on 10 December. It will not be solely about water; it will be about low and middle income earners who have had enough.

They see former Ministers living outside the country, in the United States or elsewhere, and having their pension payment sent to them. They see former bankers holding onto their homes, salaries and bonuses. In the meantime, ordinary people, housewives, those working 40 hours per week, are struggling with nothing. The Government is saying to these people that they will have to pay only €3 or €5 per week for water. Of course, the property tax, too, is "only" €5 per week and the universal social charge is "only" €3 to €5. When all of these charges are added up, however, they amount to a cost of €20 to €30 per week for hard-pressed families, the very people the Government has acknowledged are suffering. There are 700,000 people in this country living on the poverty line, according to the OECD, including 250,000 children. The Government is saying to all these people and to middle-income families who cannot endure any more pain that they need only give another €3 or €5. The reality is they do not have it and will not give it.

Even if everybody pays the water charge, the Government will have won the battle but lost the war. People will remember why they paid and why they should not have had to pay in the first place. When the next election comes around, they will remember what this Government did to them. People have been made ill and some have even died because of the way they have been treated in the past six or seven years. This Government is not just a lame duck. As a man said to me this morning - it might sound a bit smart, but he is right - this Government is, in fact, duck à l'orangeor, to put it simply, a dead duck.

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