Joe Higgins (Dublin West, Socialist Party) | Oireachtas source

In April, Irish Water, at the behest of the Minister, will be sending 1.5 million bills out to people looking for €40 or €65. In July and October, there will be similar exercises. In October, as Deputy Boyd Barrett said, there will be a small army of civil servants sending €100 in the opposite direction. When the books are prepared at the end of the year, it will be found that a considerable number of the cohort to whom €100 was sent will actually be boycotting the water charges. Then the Department will have to send out another letter demanding the €100 back. We are in Alice in Wonderland territory here. We are in Fine Gael and Labour in Blunderland territory. The more this goes on, the more incredible the saga becomes. I hope that, in April and May, when a huge cohort will exercise their right not to pay any water tax because they pay already, the Government will finally realise the game is up. Otherwise, it will be further into fantasyland.

See this speech in context