Paul Murphy (Dublin South West, Solidarity) | Oireachtas source

The Minister's response to the issue is quite incredible. He is suggesting that a secret agreement lies behind this agreement, to the effect that we should forget about what is written in the agreement because, if the Government decides it does not want to go ahead, it will not do so. Is that the case? That is not what is in the legislation. The Minister for Social Protection, the Minister for Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government and the Government increasingly resemble a lost soldier left in a jungle after the war is over. They have lost but they are trying to hang on to anything they can, in this case to maintain a back door for water charges in the future.

I appreciate the compliment but, of course, I do not agree about some fine past of Fianna Fáil either, nor a fine past of Fine Gael. The thanks for Fianna Fáil's undoubted change of position does not lie with me but with the movement. It lies with the hundreds of thousands who came out to protest and those who refused to pay. They all know we are very close to a total victory now and the only thing that lies between us and that victory are the two Ministers and the Taoiseach. Everyone knows that the Government has now been beaten on this issue repeatedly and everyone feels confident that it can be beaten on the issue again. For that reason people will be on the streets this Saturday at 2 o'clock at Heuston Station and Connolly Station to ensure the Government reads the writing that is on the wall.

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