Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

The Government's constant refrain has been that it is listening to the people. When people came out in record numbers onto the streets of Dublin in October and when that exercise was repeated not only in the capital city but also across the State in November, the Government had every reason to make at least a pretence of listening.

People demonstrated on the streets because they believe they no longer have a connection with the Government. They have lost all faith in its basic common sense and clearly understand that it has become detached from the reality of their lives. If the Government has listened, it has heard about the many who have struggled to get by year after year, simply to meet their household bills, keep their children clothed, fed and warm, and to cover the basics. When they came out onto the streets they were telling the Government to scrap the domestic water charges, not to alter or tweak them or to come up with an alternative scheme. The reason for that is simplicity itself. Families do not have the money to cover another bill. That is the reality for the people I represent in Cabra and across the north inner city from the Docklands through the markets and into Stoneybatter. Family after family have told me - and, by coming out onto the streets, have told the Government - that they do not have the money.

It has been particularly galling for those families to hear the Taoiseach, Deputy Enda Kenny, the Tánaiste, Deputy Burton, and others say time and again that it is only €3 and so many cent or only €1. They are clearly missing the point that for the people who cannot meet their current bills and who lie awake at night worrying about whether the electricity will be cut off, or worrying that they cannot make their rent payment and will lose the roof over their heads, it is no comfort to hear it is only three euro or only one euro. Of course, that is loose change in the pocket of a person on a strong income, but for people who struggle on very small incomes it might as well be a king's ransom. There are no euros - zero euro - in many households and families across the State. In some instances these families are reliant on fixed payments or social welfare payments. They could be families or individuals with disabilities, or people who have simply had the misfortune to lose their job. However, in other instances these are families in which a person is working or, in some cases, two people are working - families that look fine from outside the front door. You think, "They are working - that is good. Things are ticking over well for them." However, when you go inside the hall door into that home and talk to those people, you realise that things are not hunky dory and that they, too, worry and scrimp and count the cents. They count their coppers, not their euros, at the end of every week or month. That is the situation. If the Government is in the business of listening, as it claims, I am astonished that it cannot grasp the simple reality that people cannot give it what they do not have. You cannot take blood from a stone. The message has been clear: scrap the domestic water charge.

There is another set of people, who take a position that they will not pay. I am one of those. In many ways, I am quite typical of many of the people who have adopted that position. It is a position of principle. It is based on the belief that water, of all public goods, is so basic a requirement for life itself and for a decent standard of living that it ought to be funded collectively through general taxation. Certainly, our society should not countenance a situation in which an elderly neighbour or parent, or a brother or sister who finds themselves out of work, must now worry not only about making the rent and paying electricity bills but also about getting into debt or into trouble because of the water that comes from the tap. It is another pressure - whether to boil a kettle or wash a child. There is something ethically troubling about going down that road.

The people who cannot pay and those who will not pay all believe that access to a clean water supply is a basic fundamental right. It is a human right that finds expression in international instruments, covenants and law. People want that right to be recognised in this State and to see it expressed in the Constitution. Some, such as members of the Government, might argue that it is sufficient to provide for checks, balances and protection in primary legislation, but that does not go far enough. People feel so strongly about this issue that they wish to have it underwritten in Bunreacht na hÉireann. They and I believe that this is the only way to guarantee that the water supply network will never be privatised, save with the consent of the people. That is how it ought to be.

Those in Government have contested any suggestion that privatisation is the ultimate goal in the establishment of Irish Water and in the strategy that has been adopted. They can argue that from here to eternity, but people will not believe them. They have seen what has happened with other elements of public utilities, which have been privatised and sold. There is a deep-rooted fear that the same might come to pass in this case, if not under this Administration then perhaps under a future Administration.

The simple way around this dilemma, for a Government and for political parties that say they have no interest in privatising water or the water network, for the population that says clearly it does not want it to happen and wants a guarantee of public ownership, is to put a referendum to the people. Let us debate and argue the wording, how it might be phrased and put it to a plebiscite. Let us check and double check through a legal, political and social debate and then let the people decide. The Government then demonstrates, not by word but by deed, its commitment to public ownership. It is a simple matter and I cannot understand, given the stated position of the Government, why it has been so hostile to the idea of a referendum. Some colleagues have equated it to a referendum held in the 1980s that has proved problematic in the Constitution. The issue is a lot more straightforward and is about physical infrastructure, supply and a public resource. I ask the Minister of State to reconsider the view and communicate the idea to the Taoiseach and his colleagues who sit around the Cabinet table.

As an entity, Irish Water is utterly discredited. It is regarded as toxic, incompetent and a byword for excess, waste and cronyism in the manner of the awarding of contracts for metering, the use of consultants and the huge public moneys wasted in that regard, in the manner the former Minister, Phil Hogan, before he went to the blue skies of Europe, passed the buck on the issue and claimed he knew nothing about the excessive spending on consultants, and the manner in which he was quite prepared to let public officials and civil servants take the rap and play a game of make believe that he, as Minister, was not micromanaging the project, which was the establishment of a brand-new public utility that envisaged spending grotesque sums of money on consultancy. Irish Water initially needed people's PPS numbers but that is not the case now. At each turn, Irish Water proved to the taxpayer and to the public that it was not fit for purpose.

When people came onto the streets primarily to tell the Government to scrap water charges, they were also giving a message about Irish Water. Even in this utility's infancy, the people recognise, even if the Government does not, that it is not fit for purpose. People are not happy to simply sit by philosophically as huge sums of public moneys are squandered in the utility. The Government has made some moves, albeit cosmetic, in terms of the board and minor pieces around Irish Water to appease the anger. It will not work and, if the Government imagines it will miraculously transform Irish Water into an acceptable brand or face for the Irish public, that ship has sailed and the task will prove impossible.

When people came out and protested against the charges and against Irish Water, there was a cynical and deliberate attempt by Government Deputies and others to portray these people as sinister, reckless and a dangerous and irresponsible fringe of society and to create the impression that a vast number of people are so socially deviant they resent paying their taxes or paying their way. That approach and the rhetoric from the Government has caused offence to people and deepened people's resolve. It has kept their anger alive.

In my neighbourhood in Cabra in November, up to 1,000 people protested against these charges. These included senior citizens, mothers, fathers and children representing the mix that lives in our communities. To a woman and a man, they were decent people and citizens who paid taxes through income tax, VAT, excise or the myriad of such taxes and charges citizens pay. Each and every one of them deeply resents the assertion by the Minister of State or his colleagues that they represent something sinister or undesirable in society. Far from being sinister, these people represent what is best in terms of social solidarity.

I have no doubt next Wednesday, all of those people will be out to see the Minister of State, mainly, or perhaps all of Oireachtas Members. I have no doubt they will come out in their thousands or tens of thousands. When those citizens gather around their Parliament in their capital city, they are saying to the Government and to their elected representatives again to scrap charges and forget about pushing charges down the pipes or delaying the bills' date of arrival. The Government should forget about that because it is not enough and forget about the stick that goes with the carrot, which is threatening people in rented accommodation that landlords will be implicated as debt collectors on behalf of Irish Water and the State.

We are at a point where the public mind has considered all matters and has decided. The public view is that people wish to see these charges scrapped and abolished. That is the first thing to do. Thereafter, we need a genuine and open debate about our water infrastructure, the level of investment required, and the ways in which we can leverage investment. That should be properly set out, debated, challenged and decided in the Dáil Chamber. That is the debate we should have had and our call is to scrap domestic water charges, stand down Irish Water and have what should be a genuine democratic debate, with all Members involved, on repairing water infrastructure, guaranteeing a quality water supply to our citizens and ensuring each and every one of them enjoys what is a basic human right to adequate and clean water supply.

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