Joan Collins (Dublin South Central, United Left) | Oireachtas source

It is important to oppose this section. On all my points concerning each section there is a caveat, which is that the Minister should abolish Irish Water and the water tax. This legislation is dead in the water and there is huge public opposition to it. People will not engage with it. Why the Minister is establishing a public forum to discuss the fact that money is not being brought in from the water tax is beyond me. He is putting in more structures that will be useless in six, 12 or 18 months' time.

The Government and its backbenchers are in cloud cuckoo land if they think this will actually work. If the Minister wants to bring this in, fair enough, but the section should be opposed. Deputy Stanley's idea to include households and commercial water users is better than nothing. However, they will be discussing where on earth the money is coming from because people will not be paying for this.

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