Ruth Coppinger (Dublin West, Socialist Party) | Oireachtas source

It is a registration rate of less than 50% despite the best efforts of the Taoiseach. That is accompanied by the €100 people get for doing nothing but registering with Irish Water. The Government should not take it as any guarantee that those people will pay the bills when they arrive in April.

Will the Taoiseach proceed with his despicable plan to steal money for Irish Water from council tenants and private tenants in the State? The Taoiseach wants to turn councils and landlords into debt collectors for a semi-State company. Judging by comments made this morning, it seems the Taoiseach wants to turn landlords into bullyboys of their tenants to get them to pay Irish Water. When is the Taoiseach planning to introduce this item of discriminatory legislation against non-homeowners? Does the Taoiseach not think people in the private rented sector have enough on their plates thanks to the housing crisis foisted upon them, rising rents and the danger of being made homeless at any time by selfsame landlords if they do not pay the unfair austerity measure?

The Government is taking on a huge sector. The CSO released figures last weekend showing that, in Dublin, only 59.4% of people own their homes. In the capital city, the Government will be taking on hundreds of thousands of council tenants or private tenants. If the Taoiseach thinks people will take this lying down, he is badly mistaken. Last night, I spoke at a meeting of almost 200 people in a community in Athlone. They turned out in sub-zero temperatures, as it was -3° Celsius when I arrived there. Their mission was to discuss how not to pay water charges and how to persuade the Government to get rid of them.

Perhaps the Taoiseach will comment on the huge protests that took place on Saturday. Despite it not being officially called by any group, with the protests being self-organised by communities, and despite it being the start of a new year, people turned out in their tens of thousands against water charges. Does the Taoiseach agree the steam has not gone out of the water charges issue? Does the Taoiseach agree he should abolish Irish Water and the water charges before the Government is faced with even further humiliation in 2015? The indications are that a massive boycott of water charges, and not just of registration, lies ahead if the Government does not do so.

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