Louise O'Reilly (Dublin Fingal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I commend those Deputies from outside my party who are supporting the motion. I cordially invite Deputies Kelleher and Cowen, and their colleagues in Fianna Fáil, to do what they said they would do, namely, take action to end water charges and support our motion. We will not say, "We told you so" afterwards.

Fianna Fáil was at pains to tell us over the past few days that its amendment underpins the agreement that exists between the two parties that sit nominally on opposite sides of the House. After all of its posturing last week on the mortgage Bill, it is right back being the best boys and girls in the class and is supporting the Government. That is what Fianna Fáil does when it is in government in all but name.

Strict adherence to its confidence and supply arrangement is, it tells us, in the national interest and its counter-motion of course underpins that. It is a pity that its agreement with the electorate is not underpinned by anything in its motion. People voted for what is in the national interest and for the abolition of water charges. That is very clear. They did not vote for a suspension, for us to kick the can down the road or for more meetings, hearings and reports. The feet on the street and votes in the ballot box were decisive. The only thing that is not decisive is what is being proposed by Fianna Fáil and the Government.

Let the starting point be the abolition, not the suspension, of water charges. While Fianna Fáil threw itself at every news outlet to lambaste Sinn Féin and my colleagues and accuse us of shouting from the sidelines, it should have concerned itself with what it had shouted from the sidelines. Believe it or not, I tend to agree with some of what its Deputies said previously, such as the wastage of money and the costs associated with Irish Water.

One of the best descriptions of Irish of water was that it was a money pit. Last year, my constituency colleague, Deputy O'Brien, remarked that every single day that Irish Water remains in operation it costs the State and taxpayer a fortune. He described it as a money pit that has done nothing but run up almost €1 billion of debt. He said by now we could have pumped hundreds of millions of euro into upgrading water systems and implementing conservation measures. Instead, this money has been spent on adding an expensive and unnecessary layer of bureaucracy that has spent taxpayers money on consultants fees, PR stunts, management salaries and bonuses, staff perks and water meters that have been rendered useless.

Deputy O'Brien said the game was up and that it is time to scrap Irish Water before it cost taxpayers even more money, and I agree. Deputy O'Brien made some very good points, for which I commend him. The game is up. We cannot kick the can down the road. We must take decisive action now. Deputy O'Brien was correct. We cannot afford to have water charges and all that go with them in existence for a moment longer than is necessary. We can act today and tomorrow.

The truth is that if Fianna Fáil was serious about scrapping water charges or its best friends in government had any interest in listening to what the people said at the last election, it would take immediate action and support our motion. It would not waste a single shilling of taxpayers' money any more than it has done already.

It is not that long since we had an election. I want to assure every single Member of the House that the mood of the people has not changed. They remain resolutely opposed to water charges in my constituency, Fingal, and I have no doubt the same view pertains all over the country.

I canvassed in Swords, Kinsealy and Balbriggan last weekend. It behoves me to tell the Government that it is on a fool's errand if it thinks it has any hope of rebuilding confidence in Irish Water. I sincerely hope things stay fine for those in government because the people voted to send the vast majority of Deputies to the House to oppose Irish Water and water charges. Anyone in the House who believes that people do not know or, God help them, cannot tell the difference between abolition and suspension is sorely mistaken.

We are fooling nobody if we think we were elected to kick this particular can down the road. We were not, and Sinn Féin will not go back on the promise it gave to people because we gave them our word and will be as good as our word.

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