David Cullinane (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister of State, but that is where my welcome finishes. I do not welcome his speech or the announcement made in the Dáil last week on the half-baked measures put in place. It is essentially to buy the election, but it will not work.

Senator David Norris asked why Sinn Féin had specifically been singled out in the Minister's contribution. It is quite obvious - it is the opinion polls, stupid. The Minister and his party are worried about Sinn Féin and their seats. That is the reason he came to the Chamber and attacked Sinn Féin's policies. The reality is that he cannot stand over his own party's policies.

Senators on the Government side of the House are very meek and quiet this evening. They were not so quiet 12 months ago when we debated the Water Services Bill for 18 hours with the former Minister, Mr. Phil Hogan, and the former Minister of State, Deputy Fergus O'Dowd. We tabled hundreds of amendments, each of which was voted down by Government Senators. Senator Sean D. Barrett, Fianna Fáil and Sinn Féin Senators tabled the amendments which were about the use of PPS numbers, bonuses, consultants and the composition of the board. I told both the former Minister and the former Minister of State that I would not buy a pig in a poke. We did not know what the water charges would be. We were told there would be a water charges plan and that there would be consultation, but the Minister farmed it out to the Commission for Energy Regulation. It brought forward its proposals, but the Government was forced to tear them up and ditch them because the people of the State rebelled against them. However, not one single amendment on this issue was accepted by the former Minister and Minister of State. One of them, "Big Phil", was rewarded with a top job in Europe and a salary of €300,000. He is now in charge of the biggest budget in the European Union. This is the guy who is responsible for the complete mess that was made of this issue.

I have listened to the Minister of State and the Minister, Deputy Alan Kelly, say they are sorry. They are not sorry at all; they are only sorry that they were caught out. They are only sorry that the people have come out against the charges in their tens of thousands. Hundreds of thousands of people have taken to the streets on different occasions to say they have had enough. That is the reason the Minister and the Minister of State are sorry; they are not sorry about any of the policy decisions they have taken. They are also not listening to the people. If they were, they would abolish the charges altogether. People do not want to pay a second time for water.

Water is a precious resource which we all need. There is something fundamentally wrong with a Government that states it will provide for free general practitioner, GP, care for everybody because people have a right to free access to GP care, but that it will charge people for a precious resource such as water. None of its policies stacks up. Irish Water is toxic; it is dead in the water. Water charges are toxic and they are also dead in the water. The previous Minister and Minister of State came to this Chamber and faced down the Opposition when we challenged them on these policies.

The sole rationale for the introduction of Irish Water and water charges was water conservation. This was about water conservation. Now, the charges will be capped up to 2019. The meters being installed, which essentially were going to be cash registers outside people's doors, will now be rust buckets that will go the same way as the previous Government's e-voting machines. The Government has squandered the people's money. It should have used the money to invest in fixing the system in the first place. It has squandered the people's money on consultants and is throwing good money after bad, but it has still not listened.

In Waterford, the Minister's home city and county, people came out in big numbers onto the streets in Portlaw, Dungarvan, Waterford city and Tramore for unprecedented anti-austerity protests. They were sending the Minister and the Government a clear message, that they did not want to pay for water a second time. Most of them simply do not have the money to pay. There are families who do not have any spare income. Their pockets have been emptied. They see the unfairness of the Fine Gael and Labour Party policies and are saying enough is enough. They will take to the streets again on 10 December. There will be peaceful, family-friendly protests outside Leinster House. Again, with one voice, tens of thousands of people will send the Government the message that they do not like Irish Water which has become a monument to the absolute failure of the Government and that they do not like the water charges which should be scrapped, not capped. If the Government does not listen to the people, I predict the Minister will not be a Minister or a Deputy in 15 months time, rather he will have lost his seat because he will have lost the confidence of the people, as will most of the Fine Gael and Labour Party Deputies and Senators. Listen to the people for once and for all. Listen to what they are saying and scrap the water charges-----