Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

The whole point of this Bill was to respond to the expressions of outrage over and opposition to water charges, Irish Water itself and people's fear that the establishment of the company is a prelude to privatisation. It was supposed to be the Minister's response, proof he is listening and his reassurance that people's worst fears will not, in fact, be realised. Yesterday, we got a clear statement that people do not believe the Minister's assurances. For 70,000 to 80,000 people — that is my estimate — to have come out on the streets midweek after the Minister made his so-called concessions was an absolutely decisive rebuttal and rejection of his assurances, including those made in here.

It is a decisive statement that people do not trust the Minister when he states that Irish Water will not be privatised.

Lest there be any doubt, as I have heard some rather ridiculous comments on numbers yesterday, any demonstration that can fill three sides of Merrion Square, and where the end of it is at College Green and people who are arriving at College Green cannot move all they way up to Merrion Square, is vast. I got at least four telephone calls from people on College Green stating they could not move. It extended all the way up Nassau Street and on three sides of Merrion Square. The demonstration for the late Ms Savita Halappanavar was 20,000 people on one side of Merrion Square. We had three sides of Merrion Square and all the way down Nassau Street to College Green and some commentators stated there were 30,000. Who were these commentators?

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