David Cullinane (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

The vast majority of the 100,000 people who were out on the streets on Saturday cannot afford to pay these water charges. On each of the three occasions in recent weeks on which I have asked the Leader to arrange a debate on this matter, I have put it to him that 180,000 families cannot afford to pay their mortgages at the moment. Should they allow their mortgages to slip a bit further so they can pay the Government's water charges? Should families that cannot put enough food on the table put even less food on the table to pay these charges? Should people who cannot afford to pay existing bills let those bills go into further arrears to pay water charges? This was not properly explained by the Government. It is a disgrace that Fine Gael and the Labour Party voted for the Water Services Bill 2013 without knowing how much it was going to cost or how all of this was going to work.