David Cullinane (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Senator Zappone hit the nail on the head when she referred to the myriad reasons people protested on Saturday. It is clear that the vast majority were protesting against water charges, Irish Water and the privatisation or potential privatisation of water services, as people see it. However, they also protested at seven years of austerity and all of the cuts that have been foisted on them. The reason we have seen so many people on the streets is that they have had enough. There is a message in that for the entire political system, not just for the Government parties, but for all of us. People want fairness and equality. The vast majority of people understand that the public finances were not in a good place and needed to be corrected but they wanted them corrected in a fair way. They view what happened in the past seven years as anything but fair. For the vast majority, the straw that broke the camel's back was water charges.

Senator Bacik was correct to say we spent 17 hours in the Seanad debating the Water Services Bill.

We commended the Government at the time on giving the appropriate time, but hundreds of amendments were tabled by Sinn Féin, Fianna Fáil and Independent Senators dealing with all the concerns about which we are now hearing from the former Minister of State who set up Irish Water, and the current Minister who now says the entire process was a bit of a mess. Not one amendment from the Opposition, which dealt with bonuses, the pricing structure and charges, the use of consultants and many of the issues that manifested themselves, was accepted by the Government. We will have two hours and 15 minutes tomorrow to discuss water charges and many other issues within that. That is not enough time because people have many questions on those issues and we must ensure every Senator who wants to speak has the opportunity to do so. This is the time for us to have a frank, constructive debate on this issue, but two hours and 15 minutes is not sufficient and I respectfully ask that an extra hour would be given tomorrow. If the Leader is not in a position to agree to that today, we will propose an amendment to the Order of Business tomorrow but I ask in good faith that the Leader would acknowledge and accede to this request.