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

With each new move, he shed whatever bits of left principles he might once have had, to be replaced with a sneering cynicism which Members saw oozing from him tonight as he decided to divert attention from the hatred of ordinary people in society for the Labour Party because of its continuing imposition of this hated water tax with a cynical attack on RTE. The reality is that in recent years RTE has provided an ongoing platform for the Revenue Commissioners, various Ministers for the Environment, Community and Local Government, Government spokespeople and latterly Irish Water for every move they have made to try to impose one unacceptable austerity tax after another, from the household tax to the property tax and now the water tax, as the record will show. The people of Dublin South-West will not be impressed by the former Minister's antics, as they showed devastatingly clearly in the result of the Dublin South-West by-election last October.

The Christian feast of Easter approaches. It is a movable feast set for the first Sunday after the first full moon after the vernal equinox. The Government's deadline for householder registration with Irish Water is also a movable feast. It is much more movable than Easter, however, and last night, with some puffing of his chest, the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government came into the Dáil Chamber and announced no less than the fifth registration deadline of 30 June. At first sight, it appears to have something to do more with the sun than the moon because the first deadline was around the autumnal equinox. It was then moved to around the winter solstice, but that deadline then disappeared like the weak rays of the winter sun at Newgrange and we moved in the direction of the spring equinox. Lo and behold, we now have a date somewhere beyond the summer solstice. Is there any logic to this? I have worked out that there is a law governing the movable feast that is Irish Water registration and it runs something like this. It is the first occasion on which the Minister with responsibility for Irish Water gets to speak after the latest registration figures showing stubborn resistance to registration by householders after tens of thousands of the same householders have poured onto the streets of Dublin and elsewhere in Ireland to demand the abolition of water charges. In passing, some might say that in the case of the Labour Party persisting with water charges, it might have something to do with the full moon, but being a scientific socialist, I will not really comment on that.

The most recent flexible registration date is 30 June. It, of course, is another attempt to try to frighten householders into registration. The Government is playing fast and loose with figures and the truth. The Minister claimed on Monday's edition of RTE's "Morning Ireland" that 1,230,000 householders had registered. Moreover, he claimed that 130,000 of these had done so in the previous four weeks. However, we checked and Irish Water stated that on 27 February ,229,389 had registered by then. According to these figures, 600 or 700 people have registered in the past month, not 130,000, but why should the truth get between a Minister and his propaganda?

The water charge is utterly rejected because it is a bondholder tax and part of the odious bailout of the banking system, the bondholder system and the European financial markets system that puts the burden on working-class people, ordinary middle and low-income workers and poor people. In the motion we have tabled we have laid out examples of where, if there was a different political complexion to the Government, it could look to the very wealthy, the major corporations and a financial transactions tax to obtain strong funding for investment in Irish Water and infrastructure in general, recreate and reboot the economy, generate employment for the people and so forth.

The IMF seems to be the only ally that the Labour Party and Fine Gael have for the water charges. It has the audacity to suggest that the political situation has settled down and that the water charges issue appears to be becoming less heated with the November 2014 steps to lower fees and the setting of a cap.

We can see what exploded onto the streets of Dublin last Saturday, however. The Government will face a mass boycott because people are not fooled. They know that water charges will go towards €1,000 for a family of four or five as soon as the pressure is off. It is odious to hear Government Deputies trying to set ordinary people in rural Ireland against their urban counterparts. The reality is that Dingle and Lispole, which I know well, are on the public water system, as is Donegal. Tens of thousands of people have been on the streets in every corner of rural and urban Ireland.

The call that resounds is, "We won't pay". That is the sentiment of millions of ordinary people. Those seeking the abolition of water charges should support that boycott. In 1994, 1995 and 1996 there was a people-power campaign of which I was the chairman. Based on a mass refusal to pay, mobilisation and political pressure, it forced the abolition of the hated tax at that time. It was the only time since the land annuities of the 1920s that a mass boycott - in the earlier case it was by small farmers - forced out an unjust tax.

The Sinn Féin rank and file members support the idea of a boycott. Deputy Adams is wrong-headed to attack the so-called ultra left, which in reality is the anti-austerity alliance. He says that Sinn Féin will not call for a boycott. Picture this - in April, May and June the bills will start to arrive. Well over 50% of our people oppose this tax and do not want to pay it. Their strongest weapon is the mass boycott, so that is what those seeking the abolition of water charges should say. That is their strongest weapon so they should exercise it. In that way we can force out this hated tax in a short period of time. That is what we did in the 1990s and one can imagine what level they would be at now if we had not won then.

This matter will haunt the Government right up to the election if it persists on its present course. If some 35% or 40% of householders are boycotting, it means the water charges will not survive the general election. That is because at four out of every ten doors Government candidates will be greeted with enormous anger since the occupants will be part of the boycott. Many others may have paid reluctantly but they will also be angry.

The Labour Party should remember what happened to Fianna Fáil and the remnants of that party who were clinging to whatever was left after the last general election. There will not even be remnants if they persist. If the Government moves to try to bring in repressive measures, as the Minister of State has warned us about tonight, I can tell her that Labour will not even have a remnant of a parliamentary party to cling to.

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