Séamus Healy (Tipperary, Workers and Unemployed Action Group) | Oireachtas source

As a long-time member of the Right2Water campaign and as a Right2Change candidate in the last general election, I confirm my support for this Bill to stop the privatisation of our water. The Bill is the result of people power. It shows that when we stand together we can and will be successful. I thank everyone who marched and mobilised as well as those who put pressure on their local Deputies, those who opposed Irish Water meter installers in their towns and villages and those who refused to pay the unfair double taxation that were water charges. We would not have got this far without them. I have a word of caution, however. We must be wary of any attempt by the main political parties - Fine Gael, Fianna Fáil and indeed the Labour Party - to amend the wording of this Bill or to water it down or to long-finger the Bill and put off the referendum. This legislation is crucially important. It will maintain water in public ownership and prevent privatisation. There remain two vitally important issues that we need not to lose sight of and must work on: the abolition of domestic water charges for good and the abolition of Irish Water. People power and the Right2Water campaigners throughout the country will be successful on these issues as well.

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