Michael Healy-Rae (Kerry, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I appreciate being allowed a little time to discuss this very important issue. I wish to acknowledge one group of people because their efforts forced the previous Government into a U-turn on water charges. I refer to ordinary people - I do not care if they were supporters of political parties or Independents - who carried their children through towns and villages on wet Saturday and Sunday mornings to express their opposition to the Government's proposals for water charges. One could spend the rest of one's life debating the level of water charges or whether they should or should not be introduced but the fact is that the Government's original proposals on water charges would have imposed an unbearable financial burden on struggling families. The outcome of the protests was that the Government was eventually forced to do a U-turn and reduce the charges. The heroes of the water debacle were the people who voiced their concerns by protesting on the streets.

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