Paul Murphy (Dublin South West, Anti-Austerity Alliance) | Oireachtas source

We support the proposed amendment. I would also like to propose two other amendments to motion 5c. The first is that what is set down as a statement on housing and homelessness for a debate commencing at 6.30 p.m. and to last for two hours, would be brought forward to the start of the business of the day. It would be the first debate and would conclude after four hours rather than two hours, thereby at least doubling the time, but the debate would also include provision for motions to be proposed to the Dáil and for motions to be adopted by the Dáil.

The tsunami of homelessness and the housing crisis that was spoken about in the course of the election campaign has not gone away. In fact, it has got worse. All the empirical evidence in terms of people we meet is that the situation continues to worsen on a daily basis. Those people affected by the crisis, amounting to hundreds of thousands, cannot wait for a Government to be formed to resolve this crisis. They need action immediately. That applies to the 1,600 children living in emergency homeless accommodation. They cannot wait. It applies also to the 100,000 families on the social housing list. They cannot wait. It applies to the tens of thousands facing imminent rent hikes that they cannot afford. They cannot wait. In addition, it applies to those facing mortgages they cannot afford. They cannot wait. It also applies to the man living in a box 100 m from the Dáil. He also cannot wait. We need to have a substantive debate but we also need provision for motions to be proposed and adopted by the Dáil and, in particular, we need emergency action to resolve the housing crisis.

The second concrete proposal is that we believe there should be an additional debate and statements on Irish Water and the water charges. I hope Fianna Fáil will support the amendment of the day’s business along those lines. This is the elephant in the room from the point of view of the establishment parties. It was conspicuously absent from Deputy Martin’s listing of priorities. As a number of speakers have said, the elephant in the room on the one hand is the 70% of people who voted for parties committed to abolition or at least suspension of the water charges, which means there is clearly no longer a mandate for water charges or for Irish Water. The media have reported a stampede of people cancelling direct debits, tearing up bills and the growing boycott that will force abolition. It is approximately a year and a half since the Minister for Finance, Deputy Michael Noonan, declared that the Opposition was having its last protest against water charges on 1 November while we were having protests across the country. We had another protest today. The people at the ballot box had a very significant protest and I believe there will be another massive protest on the streets of Dublin on a Saturday in a few weeks' time to demand abolition.

It is only a few months since the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government, Deputy Alan Kelly, said that he spends 3% to 5% of his time thinking about the water charges. The evidence would suggest that perhaps he and the Labour Party should have spent longer thinking about them, the impact they are having on people and on its support. We need an immediate debate on water charges and Irish Water. We need it on the next sitting day and we need a recognition that Irish Water and the water charges have to go, but also a recognition by the establishment parties in here that people are not going to wait. They are not going to place their trust in negotiations between Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael to see the abolition of water charges. People are going to act decisively and force abolition and they are going to do so, correctly, by increasing the rate of boycott, by tearing up the bills and by cancelling direct debits, as is currently happening. That is why we need a debate on Irish Water and the water charges when we return.

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