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

Next Wednesday, there will be a showdown between the Government and citizens. I have never heard so many people say they will take a day of their precious annual leave to get off work and converge on the capital as they deliver a message to the Government about water charges. The issue has gone beyond water charges, as people want the Government to go.

I congratulate the Government, which I do not often do, on uniting workers, the unemployed and the public and private sectors, which were divided throughout the years of austerity and are now united under the single message of getting rid of water charges. It is clear from today's opinion poll findings that they also want to get rid of the Government. Next week's demonstration is the most highly anticipated demonstration in my lifetime, whereas today's debate is irrelevant and a damp squib. The real debate will take place next week on the streets.

The Bill signals that the Government has backed off from imposing two detestable measures, namely, the proposals to have landlords deduct unpaid water charges from tenants' deposits and to make councils debt collectors for Irish Water by removing unpaid water charges from tenants' rents. The proposed measures discriminated against people who do not own their homes, as they would have been the only people from whom the water charges could have been forcibly stolen, thereby preventing them from boycotting the charge. The protest on 10 December is a first step and the best way to prevent the Government from introducing these measures. It did not proceed with them because it is scared and wants to avoid adding fuel to the fire. However, there is no question that it will return to this issue unless people react.

The proposed plebiscite is a joke. I am not sure it is even legal to try to bind a future Government to holding a referendum on any issue. As other speakers noted, the only way to guarantee a referendum is to insert a provision to that effect in the Constitution. We do not need to waste further time on the issue.

By postponing its plans to have deductions made from rents, the Government has given people time to launch a campaign against the measures. The Anti-Austerity Alliance and the Socialist Party will organise opposition to these measures among council tenants and those in private rented accommodation who are unable to afford to buy homes. After everything the Government has heaped on people who rent in recent times, it is incredible that it believed it could introduce these measures without provoking a reaction. Having cut rent supplement by 29% in recent years and with rent levels rocketing, the Government is adding to the current revolt.

This is a lame duck Government. If it does not fall next Wednesday, people still will not have deployed the most powerful weapon at their disposal, namely, mass nationwide refusal to pay water bills as of next April. It is not a case of if but when the nationwide boycott of water bills takes place, and it will definitely bring down the Government. For this reason, it should not plan for a further 18 months in office.

The Labour Party told barefaced lies to the electorate during the previous general election campaign when it took out expensive advertisements promising people it would protect them against the water charges it is now implementing. It was so stupid it took the Department with responsibility for water from the Fine Gael Party. The same Department is responsible for housing, another area where we are experiencing a despicable crisis.

Labour Party Deputies have spoken about the prospect of their party evaporating at the next general election. The water metaphor is apt, because that is precisely what will happen. Discussions are taking place on what will replace the Labour Party, as there is a strong chance it will not win any seats in the next general election. A new political movement of working class people is emerging. New activists are coming onto the stage and new groups are emerging. A combination of these and other forces of the left will, I believe, lead to the establishment of an umbrella body that will propose a national slate of candidates against austerity. These candidates will provide a genuine alternative for working-class people after the next general election. Having sold out long ago, the Labour Party has today written its political obituary by introducing this Bill. As I stated, it is standing over the two worst measures that people face, and there will be no sadness when it disappears from the stage of history. Working-class people await the opportunity provided by next Wednesday's demonstration to bring down the Government.

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