Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

In my experience, they are a mixture of people who will not pay on principle because they already pay through general taxation; they believe water is a human right and oppose the privatisation of such a vital service. As I have explained to the Taoiseach many times, there are many families who cannot pay, who do not have the €3 or €1 per week about which he is so glib. They do not have it because they have been screwed by the Government in the past four years and have nothing left to give.

The Taoiseach thought he had got away with it. He thought the cosmetic changes the Minister, Deputy Alan Kelly, had introduced last year would thwart the anti-water charges campaign, but he was wrong. The popular citizens' campaign against this unjust tax has not gone away. If anything, it has grown in strength and support. Last week the trade unions reaffirmed their strong opposition to water charges. Did the Taoiseach hear? The right to water campaign will stage another major public demonstration on 29 August. I hope Fianna Fáil will be there, having had a conversion to an anti-water charges campaign.

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