John Brady (Wicklow, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Last night during the debate, the Minister said he wanted to take the heat out of the issue of water charges. However, he clearly has not. Yesterday, two Wicklow men, Sean Doyle and Eamon McGrath, were released from Cloverhill Prison on a technicality, having spent 16 days behind bars for protesting against the installation of water meters. These protests are continuing across the State. Clearly, the heat has not been taken out of the issue.

Water charges have been suspended but they should be put to bed once and for all this evening. I call on Fianna Fáil Members to stand by the mandate they received in the election and ensure that happens. However, we are all aware of the grubby little deal done by Fianna Fáil to put the Minister's lot back into power. The Minister has set up his commission to take the heat out of the issue in order that Fianna Fáil can put Fine Gael back into power. However, I call on him to put an immediate end to water metering. It is possible that there will be no future use for any of the meters that have been installed, never mind the meters that Irish Water continues to install. A total of €500 million has been wasted to date installing water meters and tens of millions of euro more is planned.

Does the Minister expect the protests to end while the roll-out of the water metering programme continues? Will he continue wasting Garda resources by ensuring they act as a private security force to allow Irish Water to install meters? Will he second-guess the findings of his commission or is the outcome written? I am standing by the mandate I received in the election by being a proud signatory to the motion.

I ask the Minister to halt the water metering programme immediately. The commission will come back with its own findings in nine months time. I am asking him to halt the metering programme to really take the heat out of this issue.

See this speech in context