Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I took part in a demonstration in the city centre on Saturday. It was one of a number of demonstrations in which I had participated. It is useful to walk along with the crowd to get a sense of who is there and why they are there. Essentially, there were friends and citizens. I met neighbours; they were ordinary people, not a bunch of revolutionaries. There was a very large crowd there and they know why they were there. This is about water, but it is also deeper than that. They knew that this was an introductory offer and that once it was introduced, it would increase, including debts, where the money raised would have to be paid back. They knew that had they not demonstrated in the first instance they would have had bills coming through their letter boxes that would be in excess, significantly in some cases, of the bills that will drop through their letter boxes next week. They are struggling to make ends meet. Many ordinary families have had their incomes hollowed out and have no reserves. They wonder for what the universal social charge is being collected, why they cannot see anything additional for the property tax they pay and where their PAYE and other taxes are being spent. They see it as a one-way street and that all is taken. That is what people will say on the doorsteps and what those taking part in the demonstrations will say. They know that the language of the Government is fundamentally dishonest.

The Government stated this was about saving the State money, but it is about the Government balancing the budget at the expense of the citizen in picking it up as a customer on the other side. They see the Government acting tough against them but not where we want them to act tough with our so-called political partners in Europe. This is also about political reform, golden circles and the same faces emerging and re-emerging and doing better every time, while this same group of people are poorer. We saw the same group of people coming across from RPS after the Poolbeg fiasco and emerging in Irish Water. We saw shareholders being paid when Siteserv was sold, even though €100 million of taxpayers' money was written off, and they also got a dividend. Small businesses are struggling. People are not able to get a night's sleep with the worry of debt and they see the same individuals emerging with a company debt-free, capable of making a fortune. I refer to Siteserv which is owned by Mr. Denis O'Brien. It has been like pulling hen's teeth to try to get information on the sale of Siteserv to Millington where other entities made bids. An Australian hedge fund, Anchorage, made a bid of €52 million, but it wanted a greater level of due diligence. Altrad, a French company, made numerous bids to purchase Siteserv, but it was told it was not for sale. Its representatives turned up at the annual general meeting the day before it was sold. Other under-bidders have complained about the process.

A lack of accountability and transparency is at the heart of the issue in that people expected the Government to be different in that respect. They expected to see political reform, not the moving of the Adjournment debate to the middle of the day and calling it a Topical Issue debate. They wanted to see fundamental change to bring to an end the golden circle that kept on appearing and reappearing. We saw this at the weekend in a headline in TheSunday Business Post which indicated more money would be sought because time had been spent monitoring people at the water meter protests. A discussion is taking place among Siteserv and other companies, or GMC Sierra and Irish Water. We see the same people being asked all the time to put their hands in their pockets and bail out the likes of the banks and the developer classes. That is where their taxes are going. This, therefore, is about more than water. It is about the entire political system and goes to the heart of democracy. If the Government thinks the people are just in the mode of saying they will not pay and that this is a frivolous matter, I advise it that this is a very determined and committed group of people. The Minister, Deputy Alan Kelly, added to the determination with what came out in the past 24 hours. He has hardened the position.

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