Denise Mitchell (Dublin Bay North, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

The last thing households across this State need, in the middle of a cost-of-living crisis, is another unfair bill. This proposal by Sinn Féin is very simple. It removes the option of this Government or any future governments to reimpose domestic water charges down the line. It is as simple as that.

We all saw reports in the media last month that the Government was examining the possibility of bringing in the so-called excessive-use charge. The Minister was very quick to downplay these reports, but the reality is that the public does not have any trust with this Government when it comes to water charges. This Bill will give certainty. It will scrap water charges once and for all. Like everyone else in the Chamber, I remember the real anger on the streets when previous governments attempted to bring in water charges. I was on the protests, marching with communities who faced down these charges. I have no doubt that any attempt to backtrack on water charges by the Government will be met with the same opposition as back then.

If the Government is really concerned about conserving water, we need to see investment in our public water network. Leaks need to be repaired and the old system needs to be brought up to standard, but we are not seeing this being done. The reality is that once a blanket charge comes in, it is very difficult to get rid of it and the bill to the household never goes down. This is very simple; if the Minister is not planning to reintroduce water charges, he should support this Bill.

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