Jonathan O'Brien (Cork North Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

On Wednesday, 19 November, the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government, Deputy Kelly, came here with his much anticipated motion on Irish Water. We were told the motion was going to clear up all the public's confusion, 12 months of poor decision making, inaction and misinformation that was being seeped out to the public by various sources. In his opening paragraph, he said decisions should not be made in anger, and I agree wholeheartedly. The problem we now face is that every decision the Government is making on water and water charges is being made in panic, with the same results. The motion referred to three key principles the Minister wanted to ensure, namely, affordability, simplicity and certainty.

On affordability, the Minister said water would cost €3 or €1 per week depending on the make up of a household. He said it was a modest charge, taking into account the conservation charge. Deputy Peter Matthews put it very well earlier when he spoke about budget announcements with decreases in direct taxation. Given the regressive indirect taxation that has been levied since the Government took office, people have less money in their pockets. We hear the charge for a single-person household will be €60, and child benefit has increased by €5. However, the net effect of child benefit has decreased. One cannot take one budget in isolation and say the Government has given something back to people and therefore they have more in their pockets to pay these extra charges, ignoring the previous three budgets which took even more out of their pockets. The net effect is that people are being asked to pay more with less. More and more people are going into poverty. The Minister of State does not want this to happen any more than I do. I am not scaremongering but giving the facts. The Minister of State will be aware of many people in his constituency who are struggling to make ends meet, not just people on social welfare but people who are working. When they cannot make ends meet, €3, €1, €60 or €160 will make a major difference to their lives.

The Minister said we now have simplicity. People will pay a certain amount, which is capped, for a certain number of years. Legislation will be brought in, and it is a simple message. The simple message given by tens of thousands of people across the State should have been heard. The Government did not listen to the people whom it is elected to represent. It did not give a voice to those who do not have a voice.

The Minister said we have certainty. Everybody knows who is liable, what the dates are, when the bills will come in and the penalties.

He also failed to say that an additional certainty for people is that charges are here to stay, the metering process will continue full steam ahead, and that we will not ensure that either this Government or any future Government will have the option to privatise water services by enshrining it in the Constitution by way of a referendum.

The other certainty from the Minister's announcement is that the campaign of opposition will not go anywhere, and he will know that next Wednesday when he looks out his office window and sees tens of thousands of people circling Leinster House and Government Buildings. They will be carrying placards, not saying they want concessions, caps and conservation grants but that they want this Government to listen to what they are telling them, to act on their behalf, and to abolish water charges. That message will be clear. It is obvious the Government did not hear it on the two previous occasions people took to the streets. I do not have confidence it will hear it now but I hope somebody somewhere in Government Buildings finally will wake up to the reality that this is a bad idea.

I will not touch on the issue of the plebiscite and the referendum because Deputy Colreavy mentioned it. Plebiscites take place in most countries but they are not binding. The position is slightly different here. I believe we have only had one plebiscite, in the 1930s, on the Constitution but the Minister has to understand that there is a cynicism among the general public, and nobody in Government has given a good reason to me or any other member of the Opposition why a referendum was not the preferred option. The only reason I have heard is that we do not need a referendum because nobody in this Chamber is in favour of privatisation. If that was the case, why not go to the people and enshrine it in the Constitution? If it is not the intention of this Government, and the Minister believes it is not the intention of any future Government, to privatise water services, why not enshrine it in the Constitution through a referendum if that is what people so choose?

The other issue in the Bill is the establishment of the public water forum. If the Minister does not mind me saying so, that is the most ludicrous idea I have ever come across. A water forum will be established by the Minister, with no less than 12 members and no more than 60. The Bill outlines all the powers the Minister will give to the forum by regulation. It will review and comment on the strategies of Irish Water, the investment plans and the water charges plans, and it will be representative of all the customers of Irish Water. If the Minister is sincere in that, will those people who have an ideological opposition to paying water charges and those representing the Right2Water campaign get a seat on that forum? Will they be allowed air their views or will the membership be made up of "Yes" men? How does the Minister propose to choose people to sit on this forum? We do not need a forum. We have had a public forum for the past 12 months on this issue. It has been debated in every city, town and village across this State, from town halls with 50 people present to mass protests of 100,000 people. The views of the people are well known. We do not want water charges so any water forum is just a sop.

What is not contained in this legislation but which the Minister earmarked in his contribution on 19 November is the issue of landlords being able to deduct charges. He said legislation would be needed to make them official debt collectors on behalf of Irish Water. Irish Water holds a briefing session for Oireachtas Members every week and one of the questions that arose at one meeting was what would happen in the case of local authority tenants. The response given to Deputies who raised that issue was that local authorities will be asked to collect unpaid water charges; it will be added to their rent.

Many questions remain about that particular proposal, and I know local authorities oppose it, but if a local authority tenant who is opposed to water charges does not pay the charge it will be added to their rent. They may pay their rent on time every week and be up to date but because water charges are now being added to the rent, they will continually go into debt. There are consequences from that. There are consequences for them if they apply for grants and if they apply for transfers, and that question has not been answered satisfactorily.

The Minister will get his answer yet again on 10 December and I hope finally that he will listen.

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