Joan Collins (Dublin South Central, United Left) | Oireachtas source

This is the third attempt since the 1980s to introduce water charges. The first two ended in failure, as this will. The legislation is being introduced by the same political parties which introduced the charges twice in recent decades. Put simply, the water tax is dead and will not be accepted for a variety of reasons.

The move from a situation where water services were funded by general taxation to a charge is regressive. The new flat charges proposed will cost the households on the lowest incomes eight times more as a percentage of their income than the top 10% in relative terms. They will impact most on those who have the least amount of money in their pockets, especially after the way the Government rifled people's pockets in a major way in the past four years.

People understand the charges make possible the privatisation of water services in the future and they simply do not trust the political elite on this issue. They want a plebiscite and a referendum to be held to enable the right to water to be inserted into the Constitution. That is what they are saying. The right to water is close to the hearts of the citizens of the State in terms of justice, equality and fairness. They regard water charges as yet another austerity measure and they have had enough.

These are the reasons people will be out on the streets next Wednesday, 10 December, when we will see another mass demonstration of people power. This time it will not be on a Saturday but a working day. The demonstration was called on a working day, in particular, because the view was taken that on Saturdays those in government were not in Leinster House and that, therefore, they not hear or see the people protesting. The people are keen to come out mid-week, on a Wednesday, to let those in government see the whites of their eyes. They are not calling for clarification; they want the water tax to be scrapped. This was essentially the message sent in the last two big demonstrations on 11 October and 1 November. Up to 8,000 people gathered around the Walkinstown roundabout in Dublin 12 to show their resistance to the water tax and send a clear message to the Government that they wanted the tax to be abolished. It is not a question of the crumbs off the table or the removal of the worst aspects of the tax. People have referred to aspects of the water tax in their opposition to it, but what they want is for it to be abolished.

I was in my constituency last Saturday knocking on doors. I met a young couple who were thinking about what to write on their placards. There is overwhelming support for the demonstration, with people arranging time off work and small shops organising to close down for the period of the demonstration in order that staff and the owners can attend the protests. They see this as a Trojan horse for full cost recovery further down the line in 2018, when the Government can push the issue beyond the next general election.

I have no doubt that there will be a high level of non-payment of the charges next year and, on this basis, the strategy behind Irish Water, as initiated, cannot work properly. The strategy was based on Irish Water being able to borrow off the books. In other words, the company would be able to borrow to invest in water service infrastructure. That is a burning necessity; we need to invest in water services. Under the strategy, the money borrowed would not count as part of the Government's deficit. For this to happen, over 50% of Irish Water's income would have to come from charges. This will not happen, but the Government has made no provision for this eventuality in the legislation. Even if there was widespread acceptance of water charges, there would be a certain level of non-compliance. We know that this is a big "if" because there will be widespread mass non-compliance which will leave a huge hole in the finances of Irish Water. Irish Water needs to raise over €500 million next year, comprising approximately €230 million from commercial water charges and €300 million from domestic charges. Let us suppose one third of householders do not pay. What will happen then? What is the Government's contingency plan? It is ridiculous for Ministers to state Irish Water will pass the EUROSTAT test next April. This is a denial of reality and a fiasco to beat all fiascoes.

The metering project has met major opposition in parts of the country, parts of Dublin and in other cities. We know that conservation is not about the installation of water meters. They could be installed in areas to test whether water was being lost in the ground or people's houses. The only true conservation method is to fix the leaks and replace lead pipes throughout the country and in cities.

That is the only way. The Government has likened the establishment of Irish Water to the scale of the establishment of the ESB and the electrification of all parts of the country which took more than 30 years to complete. This is nonsense. There is no comparison. If the Government had been in charge of that project, we would all still be in the dark or having this debate by candlelight.

The water charges are dead in the water, if the pun will be pardoned. It is a project designed to fail. The Government should accept the reality of the situation, abolish the charges and go back to the drawing board to come up with a proper plan and a real debate with the people. This has all been driven over the heads of the people of the State. The Government has been forced to take out the most aggressive parts of the legislation that was guillotined in the Dáil last December. Mandate, Unite, the CWU, CPSU, OPATSI and the MBRU are all calling on their members to come out on 10 December for a mass family day of peaceful protest. It will give another boost of confidence to people to demand the scrapping of the water tax. The Government will have to listen. It has not listened to date. It pretended to listen and heard what it wanted to hear but the scrapping of the water tax is the watershed for people in relation to this issue.

On 10 December will fall international human rights day. The Irish people demand that water be recognised as a human right and that people have the right to water. They call for a referendum to put it into our Constitution. The fact is that water is an integral part of the people of this State and their attitudes. They want a just and fair taxation system to pay for our water. They do not see flat rate charges as constituting that no matter what form they take or whether it is 50 cent or €200. After six years of austerity measures, of which water charges are a part, €30 billion has been taken out of the pockets of every man, woman and child. It is manifest in higher prescription charges and utility bills. There have been cuts in our incomes, job losses, cuts in rent supplement and increases in rents.

I have been notified of a case that will bring the foregoing home to the Government. I was contacted by someone living at Landsdowne Gate apartments who said he had just received a letter. It was the 28-day notice informing him of an increase of 23% in his rent from €1,300 to €1,600 to be implemented in the next month as part of an annual rental review. The man told me it was an incredible rise justified in the notice as reflective of the current market value. One of the biggest gripes in this instance is that ownership of the apartments was transferred only weeks ago from NAMA to I-RES REIT, backed by a foreign investor who is just coming in to grab profits. People are facing huge increases in their rents. With these impacts on them, people are saying that whether it is 50 cent or €50 per week, they will not pay.

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