John Brady (Wicklow, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

One could ask what has brought us to this point. It is the fact that hundreds of thousands of people right across the State engaged in civil disobedience, protest and took to the streets in their tens of thousands. We had one of the largest, most successful mass movement organisations this country has seen in many years – the Right2Water movement - which mobilised on nine separate occasions right across the State, bringing thousands upon thousands of people out onto the streets. I was proud to stand with the people in the Right2Water movement in Wicklow when we engaged in such protests. There have been some fantastic results for the Right2Water movement as a result of the process. Refunds were secured and those who were bullied and cajoled into paying water charges will be repaid. An end was secured to the metering programme in existing dwellings. It must be borne in mind that €480 million of taxpayers' money has been wasted in the process to date.

As it stands, we essentially have a flip back to the original position. Fianna Fáil originally said it wanted to suspend charges and now the water allowances are back in place.

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