Clare Daly (Dublin North, United Left) | Oireachtas source

We fully realise that we are indeed in different times when "Lord Ross", as Deputy Shane Ross is known, issues a call to the membership of SIPTU to rally and take to the streets. Things are not as they were, and we need to register that. I am beginning to wonder whether the Government's strategy is to kill the opposition to Irish Water by talking it to death. The reality is that people do not want to talk about this. It is probably true to say that they are sick of listening to the Government talking about it. It has talked about the concessions it said it will make for weeks and months. People want it to listen to what they are saying, rather than having it talk over their heads.

The reality is that the Government has lost the hearts and minds of citizens. Once that happens, it is in free fall, and everybody knows it. We are now in election mode. The Government as we know it is finished. It would do everybody a service by taking action rather than talking. The action citizens want is nothing short of a standing-down of Irish Water and the total abolition of the water charges.

As a result of its inaction and its failure to deal with the issue, the only thing that will happen is that it will get the opposite of what it hoped would happen. It hoped it would kill the opposition to the charge with kindness or concessions, but it is stepping back, and the concessions will only ignite the movement. It has taught people a very valuable lesson - that is, that they no longer need to be afraid, and the real power lies outside the gates of this House. When people start exercising it, they can see results.

The dogs on the street no longer believe the Government. One cannot blame people when what the Government says today is completely different from what it said yesterday and what those parties stood for during the election, when they told people what they would do if they gave them their votes. It has a real problem. If the Government still does not get it, it would want to wake up to the fact that people have had enough. They are sick of managing and listening to a narrative from the Government that bears no resemblance to their lives.

I am glad we have been joined by our colleague, Luke 'Ming' Flanagan, MEP, in the Visitors' Gallery. His blog about his experiences when he visited a hospital with his new daughter went viral on YouTube when he coined the phrase: "Is surviving now the new thriving?" People empathise with that because they are sick of the current situation. Up to now the Government has got away with things because people were afraid that if they did something or shook things up, the alternative might be worse. Now, they do not care and hope that things will be better. That creates a powerful energy which, when organised, is sufficient to sweep the Government away.

I agree with the other Deputies; 10 December will be significant. People have had a taste of freedom, they like it and they are not going back. If we are wrong and the Government is right, the decent thing to do would be to test that, go to the people and call an election. We would get the result we think we would.

I wish to refer to some provisions in the Bill. The Minister spoke so much nonsense that I have very little time to deal with it. The idea that this is a cost-saving measure to deliver vital infrastructure and economies of scale is simply laughable. It is proposed that there will be one national authority instead of 34 local authorities.

We never had 34 local authorities dealing with this. The local authorities were dealing with this on a regional basis and did so very successfully when provided with the money for it. Deputy Wallace will speak on this in more detail later.

The justification of the metering programme as the only measure to deal with usage based charges is insulting. Customer leakage is minuscule. In fact, domestic usage of water is minuscule in comparison with the overall supply. As long as the authorities are not dealing with lead pipes and not investing in district water meters, the idea that putting meters on individual houses will deal with leakage is rubbish. Everybody knows that all this does is isolate supply to give the Government the ability to charge for it. The idea that the Minister would say the metering programme is particularly successful shows how out of touch he is, particularly when whole communities are alienated from An Garda Síochána as a result of the force acting as a private security firm, in essence.

If the Minister is naive enough to think the hundreds of thousands of forms that have been returned indicate some compliance, he is in for a rude awakening. I know many of those forms have been returned without being filled out. Many of them have Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck as the main homeowner and many of them indicate the Government can shove its water charges wherever it likes. This does not indicate compliance.

The Government has spoken about initiating a forum, but there has been a forum: it has been outside these gates. People have delivered their verdict on this issue. The Government could do us all a favour by stepping aside and abolishing water charges and Irish Water now.

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