Bríd Smith (Dublin South Central, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

In a matter of a weekend and a day a range of issues have come to the fore that will have surprised and not surprised the Irish public. A very interesting series of attempts to cover up and support each other is happening between the Government and the European Union at the same time as the discussion on Brexit and the question is being asked why ordinary people would vote to leave such a great, kind and democratic institution as the European Union. For us, it circles around the Bill and water charges. It is no surprise that we face another suspension. Fianna Fáil has introduced a great act into the body politic, whereby it will back up the Government, pretend to be in opposition and suspend everything the Government wants to suspend in order to take the heat out of an issue. It did exactly what the Minister, Deputy Simon Coveney, desired to do regarding bin charges, which was to avoid more demonstrations and more feet on the street. The Minister said in the House that we did not need another movement on the streets against bin charges. The Bill attempts to suspend water charges and kick them into a commission of investigation, not to do what Fianna Fáil promised the people, which was to abolish them.

This has been said many times. The more interesting issue was teased out in the newspapers, the media and the body politic over the weekend, namely, the revelation that the Government was using the European Commission as a fig leaf to allow it to insist on maintaining Irish Water, threaten the public and push through water charges in some form. Marian Harkin, MEP, and Lynn Boylan, MEP, have done a great job in exposing, through a series of questions, how the issue was used as a fig leaf. By following the logic of the questions asked and the answers given, one can see that the Water Framework Directive was introduced by the European Union in 2000 and signed off on by the Irish Government in 2003 to 2004.

The European Commission was asked what it saw as "established practice" in charging for water. It stated it depended on what the Government was doing when it adopted the directive in 2003 and 2004. At the time, our practice was not to charge for water. In the reply to another question submitted by Marian Harkin, MEP, the European Commission took the view that "established practice" referred to the point in 2010 when the Government indicated it would introduce water charges. The European Union is changing its tune. In one response it was said "established practice" referred to what the position was in 2003, while in another it was said it referred to what the position was in 2010. This is entirely to suit the agenda of the Government.

There is a great relationship between the European Union, Fine Gael and the "Endapendents", backed by Fianna Fáil, with the intention of trying to hoodwink and fool the population. It will not work. Suspension or no suspension, what has happened here has been another display of outrageous contempt for the democratic will of the people. All the Government is doing is providing a cover for a corporate agenda, multinationals and regressive charges which put the onus back on ordinary people. As Deputy Ruth Coppinger pointed out, there are many ways to skin a cat; there are many ways to skin the corporate cat which is getting away with murder.

There is a contradiction in Fine Gael's statements. When asked about the European Union's possible attempt to force Ireland to increase its corporation tax rate from 12.5%, Brian Hayes, MEP, emphatically responded that if the European Union was to attempt it, we would pull out. Whether the rest of the party stands over this, it is the statement of the MEP for Dublin on Fine Gael's position on the raising of the corporation tax rate. Increasing the rate of corporation tax is a spectre, but imposing regressive taxation on the least well-off is not. The vast majority of people have shown, by putting their feet on the street, voting, being willing to resist bullying and even going to court and prison that they are determined to ensure further austerity will not be imposed on them in the form of water charges.

There are many other ways to pay for water through progressive, not regressive, taxation. When the Government states it is giving more of the same, we must say it is not fooling the population. You can fool some of the people some of the time but not all of the people all of the time. If the Government does not show respect for the dead - water charges must be dead - it must be shown how to respect the dead. To that end, the population will have to take to the streets again. The Right2Water movement will meet on Monday with a view to organising further mass demonstrations. This is in response to the nonsense about whether the EU directive applies to water charges, the contradictory nature of the answers we are receiving and the clear attempt by the European Union to bully the Irish people.

One would think the economic bullies of Europe who are trying to force the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership down our throats and privatise everything that moves in the interests of corporate and global multinationals would have learned from what the people of Britain said in response to the question of whether they wanted to remain in or leave the European Union. They have not learned. Instead, they are trying to shove more bullying tactics down the throats of ordinary people, but it will not work. People are wise to them. There will be more people back on the streets and further opposition and it will come back on Fine Gael and those in this House who made false promises to the people and are reneging on them. We must totally reject the contents of the Bill and show that we are prepared to resist bullying by the European Union inside and outside the Chamber.

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