Imelda Munster (Louth, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

The Government must now accept that it failed miserably to win the support of the Irish people for its water charges and the quango that is Irish Water. The people had their day and their say on 26 February. Despite what the Government said over and over, water charges were the single issue that mobilised, ignited and rallied the Irish people. They were the single issue that ignited the spirit of protest and the determination to fight back in the Irish people, something we have not seen in decades. This was because the unfairness of the Government's austerity policies was obvious to everyone except the Government.

The people knew from the very start that Irish Water was a toxic entity. The people knew they were already paying for water through progressive taxation and that they were already paying their PAYE, PRSI, USC, motor tax, local property tax, toll charges, bin charges, accident and emergency charges and many more. While they were paying these taxes, they could see that the Government had cut many public services to the bone. They also knew that the water tax was just another austerity measure against the working man and woman and those who could least afford to pay. They saw that the Government bulldozed ahead regardless. How wrong it was. It did not break the backs of the hundreds of thousands of protesters who took to the streets and mobilised themselves in every town, city and village across the State. In my own county of Louth, in Drogheda, Dundalk and Ardee, thousands mobilised. It should be clear that any attempt to fudge this issue by a short-term suspension or the setting up of a commission whereby a Government and those propping it up seek to have a majority to put a veto on abolishing Irish water will not be tolerated.

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