Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

This is on the motion. I certainly do not remember such a dramatic exit of a member from the stage and certainly not one with the words, "I am leaving now because I did not hear what I was expecting to hear." This is notwithstanding the fact that the Deputy in question knew exactly what we were all going to say, so it is dramatic on every level.

I welcome this motion and I proudly put my name to it. It is not just a Sinn Féin motion but is the motion of a number of Deputies in the Chamber and it reflects the will of the electorate that put us in here on the promise that we would abolish water charges. This is not because we do not want to conserve water. The Minister has left the Chamber - I know he is busy - but he has repeatedly made the point that we need to pay to conserve water. I fundamentally reject that, not just from an ideological position but from my experience in Galway city. I have said before in the Chamber that Galway led the country on recycling rates and showed everybody how it was done. However, the mantra that the people have to pay was repeated to us by various city managers and by Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil. We proved what a fallacy that was and in a pilot project, we reached 70% recycling rates over a six-week period.

I am proudly green and proudly on the left. I believe in conserving water but I also believe in the goodness of people who want to conserve. These people do not need to be punished in order for them to do that. I also believe we pay taxes proudly and when I was knocking on doors, I was not asked once to reduce taxes. The people asked for services instead and I promised nobody that I would be a voice for reducing taxes. The basis of any civilised society are essential services and water is the first of those. We must pay for water and we pay for it, through our taxes. The next service is health and then housing and education.

I take exception to the level of debate from Deputy Cowen - unfortunately, he is not here at present - when he spoke of the convoluted decision of the people. It was not convoluted. They did not believe Fianna Fáil or Fine Gael and gave neither party a majority. That is why they put a selection of people in the Dáil to stand proudly for them and say, "Yes, we want to pay taxes and we want basic services in return". I proudly support this motion and also the motion that will be tabled by Independents 4 Change to amend the Constitution to prevent any privatisation of our basic services.

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