Pat Rabbitte (Dublin South West, Labour) | Oireachtas source

The manner in which the far left and Sinn Féin are exploiting the austerity fatigue of ordinary people on the water issue is disgraceful and contrary to the public interest. The fact that, for over a year now, their humbug and hypocrisy is being stimulated by the public service broadcaster requires examination. Mischief-making for the Government of the day is a time-honoured indulgence of the media and is part of a healthy democracy. However, under section 114 of the Broadcasting Act 2009, the public service broadcaster has a duty to "entertain, inform and educate". RTE's coverage may well have entertained but no sensible taxpayer or citizen could argue that it has informed or educated on the water issue. Where, over the past 18 months, were the programmes explaining why the public water system is on a knife edge, why our rivers are being polluted, why public health is threatened and our capacity to attract industry undermined, and the options available to source the enormous investment needed to make it fit for purpose? RTE has acted as a recruiting sergeant for those who have taken control of, and are manipulating, the water protests. There must be people in RTE who know that Ireland, alone in the EU, does not have water charges. They must know that our water system is derelict and, in some places, a hazard to public health. They must know that raw sewage from 44 towns is spewing into our rivers. They must know that modern-day economic development often relies on a secure supply of water. They must know how damaging it is for business and jobs if a tourism hub like Galway cannot serve safe quality water. After three decades of neglect, they must know that we can no longer continue with 34 different authorities. Above all, they must know that, to access the huge investment needed, we need a state-owned commercial utility to source the money necessary without undermining the State's finances.

It is clear that RTE relies on a source inside the water company, who seeks to ground a natural bias with distorted information, half-truths, bits of e-mails and internal papers. Last Sunday's earth-shattering, highly promoted, press stopping revelation was that there were unminuted meetings between the former Minister and the company chairperson. If RTE were to broadcast similar exposés on every time a State company chairperson had an unminuted meeting with the Minister, myself included, over the past 30 years it would fill the schedule until the end of the year. If I did not know better, one might conclude that the lopsided coverage of the water issue derives from a decision of the RTE board to strangle Irish Water at birth. We can all carry a chip on our shoulders for what has happened to our country.

We are all entitled to an opinion as to why it happened and we can all be bitter about the erosion of living standards. However, that does not justify abandoning the usually high standards practised by the public service broadcaster.

Following the pied pipers of the Anti-Austerity Alliance will only leave people with debts they need not have incurred. As was the case with bin charges, the pied pipers in question will move on to their next campaign. In the former instance, of course, they left homeowners with accumulating debts and a privatised bin collection system. The Minister, Deputy Kelly, has gone a long way towards meeting the concerns of homeowners whose living standards have been eroded since the financial crash. The average charge for water on the neighbouring island is £540 per household. Fianna Fáil previously committed to a charge of €400 per household. I hope the Minister can come up with a mechanism which will enforce compliance and permit a distinction to be made between those who genuinely cannot pay and those who will not pay.

All my political life, I have defended public service broadcasting and argued that it is a public good. The treatment of the water issue has regrettably fallen short of what licence-paying citizens should reasonably expect.

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