Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I am sufficiently new in the Chamber to still be aghast at the arrogant, contemptuous and self-serving content of the speech given by the Minister. I would have thought I would have seen a little humility and a hands-up acknowledgement of the mistakes made and the debacle of Irish Water as clearly outlined by various Deputies, in particular Deputy Smith who outlined the money that has gone into the ground. I am bemused, even though this is so serious, at Deputy Martin coming in and saying he sought this debate today. While I am particularly fond of some of the Fianna Fáil Deputies, one or two of whom are my colleagues, I find, as the Irish phrase goes, tá siad ag caint mar Thadgh an dá thaobh. The last speaker from Fianna Fáil said that, in principle, he is not against water charges while Deputy Lisa Chambers said she is willing to look at all options. They cannot have it every way. What we have today is a solution that beggars belief. We are going to have the equivalent of a water birth in nine months. We will have a pregnancy and a water birth and we will see what child emerges. It will be a changed Irish Water or a new Irish Water but still an Irish Water.

It seems to me we are missing the point completely but it has been outlined by other Deputies. The people of Ireland have spoken. I take particular exception to the way the Minister denigrates anyone who wishes to speak out or articulate a different vision. We are not negative. If the Government was seriously interested, as we were in Galway city, it would have looked at our example down there. We led the whole campaign on recycling. Despite all advice from engineers, we reached a 70% recycling rate and diversion from landfill. With the introduction of charges, which were unfortunately championed by the Green Party, the people were punished. Then, the service was privatised. That was exactly what was on the cards for Irish Water and it still is. That follows a model where we demonise people and decide we have to punish them. Indeed, Deputy Zappone has talked about an education programme. That education programme would have to start with us in the Dáil where I have not seen a single sign for conservation. I have not seen a single mechanism for conservation of water in the toilets. That education programme must start with us in the first instance and then encompass the service sector. I am staying in a hotel for this period of time and I have not seen a single sign for conservation or anything like it, nor have I seen a grant given to any ordinary person for conservation of water. That tells me that there is a lack of seriousness about conserving water.

In my 16 years on a local authority I saw it starved of funds in the first instance and staff in the second. I take exception to the claim that we did not do our job. We did. In Galway city we had cryptosporidium, from which, unfortunately, I suffered. A risk assessment was carried out, but this was never made known to councillors and no funding was made available until after people had got sick. We identified the problems. The 7,000 people living Carraroe cannot drink their water until the end of the year. Irish Water will be taken to the courts in May by the Environmental Protection Agency. The utility to which we have entrusted responsibility for water provision is being taken to court, not over what happened in Carraroe but because of its failure elsewhere.

I would like to work with whatever Government is in power because it is vital that we conserve water, but we must do so in a positive way. We must work with people and show example. We should not proceed with a divide and conquer approach. Fianna Fáil Deputies mentioned people with Crohn's disease. Are we going to take the route of divide and conquer, depending on whether people are disabled, or are we finally going to realise a civilised society must have basic services for which we must pay through taxation? These services are housing, health, public transport and water, for which we are paying. The Minister was contemptuous in claiming that we were not already paying for them. He is asking us to pay on the double.

I will happily support the motion to get rid of Irish Water. That motion should be put to the House. We should conclude the charges and hold a referendum on the issue.

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