Brian Walsh (Galway West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

Many fair-minded people have had reasonable concerns about water charges. The amendment about the Bill’s effect on landlord and tenant relations is an example of these concerns. Deputy Brian Stanley mentioned the metering issue. There are provisions in the leases signed by landlords and tenants on outstanding Electric Ireland bills and meter readings. We are not reinventing the wheel. There are standard and straightforward procedures and practices in place to deal with the Deputy’s valid concerns. Before the full details of the scheme were revealed, when fear and misinformation were allowed to fester in the absence of facts, there was anxiety about affordability and concerns about the fairness of the scheme. The debate we had yesterday and again today feeds that anxiety.

There is a cohort of militant protestors, guided and incited by some of the Members present in the House, who have no regard for rule or for reason and do not represent the majority of people, either for or against the introduction of these charges. We saw it here yesterday at Leinster House, where Members were intimidated and refused entry to the Houses of Parliament. I met Senator Paschal Mooney, who was leaving yesterday afternoon to attend a hospital appointment. The man was shaking when I met him on the plinth. He was arriving back in from his car, having attempted to leave the campus after having been instructed to do so. He rolled down his window to try to engage with the protestors outside and to explain to them he had a hospital appointment to attend, and it was the worst thing he could possibly have done because the intimidation only increased.

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