Pearse Doherty (Donegal South West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

The previous speaker talked in glowing terms about how water infrastructure in the North of Ireland was interconnected, modern and efficient. He did not mention that over the course of three years €1 billion was invested in that, and he also omitted to say that a Sinn Féin Minister oversaw that process, and that that Sinn Féin Minister stopped water charges from being introduced in the North of Ireland. That goes to the crux of this debate on the Water Services Bill. Nobody in this House is arguing for less investment in water infrastructure. We all recognise that historically our water infrastructure has suffered from under-investment. What we do take issue with is the fact that we are asking people who simply cannot afford to pay to put their hands in their pockets to pay for this infrastructure instead of having a fairer system under which it would be paid from general taxation.

The previous speaker said he believed - this is Fine Gael and Labour Party policy - that the approach being taken by this Government shifts the burden of taxation from those who are employed - that is, those who have incomes - to those who do not have incomes and who are unemployed. This is very simple to me. If someone does not have an income and they are asked to pay more tax, it is simply unfair. The fairest thing to do is to ask those people who can afford to pay to pay it.

Another speaker said that the people he believes should be out protesting are those who pay for their insurance, health care and child care. There is no doubt that a number of sections of Irish society are squeezed, but he made the charge that we and others in the Opposition, and those on the left, would like to see those individuals pay more tax. That reveals to me that the individuals he is crying a tear for today in the Chamber are those individuals who earn more than €100,000.

I want to make it clear - I have said this on the record on many occasions - that many people who earn over €100,000 have over-extended and made commitments beyond their reach, and they will find it difficult to pay additional taxation. However, when faced with choices - this is the role we are given and the burden placed on us as parliamentarians and as legislators - with regard to investing in areas such as water, health or education infrastructure, where is the fairest place to impose that burden? Should it be placed on the unemployed, as Deputy Kyne believes, and those with no incomes, or on those who have the highest incomes in society?

A phrase bandied about by Government, which the Minister for Finance used, is that for the first time the Government has defined middle Ireland, but middle Ireland extends from those earning €32,000 to those earning €70,000. The Central Statistics Office, which is independent of all of us, has told us that anybody earning €70,000 is earning twice the middle income earned in the State. If the people who are earning twice the average income are now the middle, it is an abuse of statistics. The reality is that the ideological drive by this Government is to move the burden of taxation from the most wealthy in society onto the shoulders of those who are some of the poorest in society, and we see that manifestation here with regard to water charges.

Arguments have been made that this Government has listened to the demand for ability to pay to be taken into account. There is no such recognition of ability to pay in this legislation. Regardless of how poor one is or whether one had to go to the Society of St. Vincent de Paul last night to put food on the table this morning to feed one's children, one will have to pay this water charge. That is the Government's intention. There is no recognition of ability to pay.

There has been much talk about conservation. This is not a conservation measure. If the Government wants to introduce conservation measures it can do so without asking people to pay for water. They believe, as does Sinn Féin, that it should be their constitutional right to have water provided to them without fear of how much it will cost.

The Government has introduced what it terms a conservation grant. This is highly questionable. It is not that I object to the idea of every person getting a grant of €100.

The reason I express serious concern is that there are genuine concerns this will fail to pass the test that will be set in respect of EUROSTAT. Even after the first year, this has been structured such that it will be assessed every year. There is no guarantee about the €100 dividend, which we call a conservation grant, despite the fact that it does not have to be used to conserve water and is linked with the paying of water charges to Irish Water. Will EUROSTAT really believe this is not a subvention for Irish Water? The Government is in really risky territory. Either it is risky territory or the Government knows that this will pan out in a couple of years. The European Commission may state the Government cannot make the payment because it is linked with water charges. Anyone who understands the rules knows that any subvention linked with water charges must be deemed to be subvention to Irish Water and, therefore, part of the market corporation test. If the European Commission rules this year, next year or any subsequent year that the payment is linked with Irish Water, the Government will be forced to cancel it. It is a black and white issue. If the Government does not cancel it, Irish Water will fail the market corporation test. Adding €180 million to the subvention for Irish Water will mean that it will fail automatically. There is a question mark over whether it will pass in the first place, but it will definitely fail if this is deemed to be a subvention for Irish Water. We will have the Minister for Finance or the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government standing up and saying it is not our fault, that the European Commission believes we cannot do it according to European rules and that the big bad boys over in Europe made us do it. Therefore, the payment will be no more.

That is where people will be back to the figure of €260 for as long as the Government believes the cap should endure. One thing is for sure - the cap will not endure. The Government is ideologically driven to charge people more for water. The Government parties voted to charge them more for it. They wanted to see them pay over €500. Are the public supposed to take the Government at its word that it will keep the sum at €260 in coming years? That ship has sailed. The people have lost trust in the Government, which is why we will see tens of thousands take to the streets.

The Government has tried to belittle the protestors by saying they are the sinister fringe and the loony left. The penny started to drop when it saw its own supporters, people who used to go rattling doors a number of years ago in the local elections, carrying banners about scrapping water charges. People in Fine Gael and Labour Party headquarters started to scurry around saying they must do something about it because it was the ordinary people of Ireland who were on their feet and that they needed to calm and pacify the ordinary people. This is the Bill the Government believes that will do so, but the ordinary people of Ireland are not buying it. They will be on the streets and on their feet, making the demand they have continually made, that is, that water charges should be scrapped and that the right to water should be enshrined in the Constitution. The Mickey Mouse provision peddled by the Government in respect of a plebiscite does not make a difference. A Government could change it on a whim through legislation. We all understand the reality about the measures proposed.

I attended the Right2Water press conference earlier today with colleagues involved in the campaign. We appealed to people the length and breadth of the State to come out in their thousands to make their voices heard at the gates of Leinster House and tell those on the Government benches that what they have been saying is not providing clarity or certainty, as the Government suggests, and that they want water charges to be scrapped. That is the demand that will, I hope, be heard by the Government on 10 December and I have no doubt that people across all constituencies will be converging on the capital city. People are taking the day off work and their children out of school. It will be a family day and a day of celebration. I hope it will be a day that will deliver the sucker punch to the Government which is punch drunk on this issue. It is all over the place and on the ropes and on 10 December the sucker punch will be delivered by the people.

It is about time the Government started to listen to the ordinary voices of people the length and breadth of the country. The Government and the Taoiseach refuse to hear what people are saying or are selective in what they listen to. Sinn Féin will debate a motion of no confidence in the Taoiseach on Tuesday. We have tabled the motion to reflect the views of the people in our communities and the tens of thousands who will gather on Wednesday when the motion is voted on. This will reflect the demand that people want water charges to be scrapped. The reason we will table a motion of no confidence in the Taoiseach is very simple. It is his failure to act on the wishes of the people to scrap water charges. I do not expect colleagues in Fine Gael or the Labour Party to vote against the Taoiseach in that regard, but the time is coming and the clock is ticking. People will have their say on 10 December and also in the next general election when this will not be a distant memory.

Yesterday the Minister for Finance and the Government talked about the fact that Anglo Irish Bank junior bondholders, who are unguaranteed, would be paid from State resources in 2015. They are owed something like €280 million, three times what the Government wants to take off the people in water charges. The issues will not be forgotten by them when they take to the streets and go to the ballot box.

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