Dessie Ellis (Dublin North West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

The recent announcements made by the Government on water charges which form part of the Bill are simply an attempt by it to stave off an early general election in the hope it may be able to hold enough seats to retain power in a slightly altered set-up. The changes were not about the Government embracing fairness or trying to protect people who were struggling from another charge which they could not afford. There was no conversion on the road to Damascus which allowed the Government to see clearly and change its ways for the better of everyone. There was simply fear - fear of the realisation that people would take no more, that protests and demonstrations were actually resonating with the people and that they were taking the lead and campaigning to have the water charges abolished. It truly is the people who are leading the campaign and pushing us, as their representatives, in challenging the Government. This is not something I have seen many times before and the Government is right to feel fear. The people who were moved to action are not the usual suspects and not fooled by this petty attempt at a bribe. They have spent the past few months becoming well acquainted with the issue and how Fine Gael and the Labour Party have implemented their plan. They have felt the pain of unfairness of the past three years and now chosen to strike.

In October at least 100,000 people were on the streets of Dublin, a number I had not seen in over a decade. The crowd stretched from O'Connell Street all the way past Leinster House. It included fathers, mothers, sisters, brothers, sons and daughters, old and young who had come from all over the State. They showed their resolve that day and again in November and many of them will be here again next week to let the Government know just how badly its plot to fool or bribe them has failed. These were just the most obvious mobilisations. In my area we had protests and marches in Finglas and Ballymun and packed public meetings. Since the changes were announced, not one of these people has said to me that he or she will now pay. No one has said he or she accepts this system, although some have always maintained that it is the structure of Irish Water and the charges to which they are most opposed. The people in question know that fairness is absent from the charges, whereby a single millionaire will pay less than an elderly couple reliant on the State pension. They know that Irish Water has thrown away money that could have been used so much better.

I refer to the decision to transfer responsibility for water services from the local authorities which was a disaster. Those best placed - the local authorities - should have continued to deal with the provision of water services. A proper mechanism should have been put in place to retain the services under the local authorities which could oversee them in areas in which there are serious problems with water quality such as in Roscommon and Galway. In many cases, councils were left badly stuck for local government funding. I was a member of the Dublin City Council's environment committee for many years. We were continually short of money in addressing on a gradual basis the problems posed by old and leaking pipes. However, this approach was working, but we were starved of funding.

Taking €700 million from the strategic investment fund to establish Irish Water, to pay consultants and to transfer all of the liabilities and mechanisms from local authorities and staff has been a wanton waste of money and it will go down in history as one of the worst deals given to any taxpayer.

The people have spoken and will speak further. This will not stop and we will see more and more protests. Will the Minister of State re-examine what the Government has been doing and work on the basis the people will not stop?

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