Labhrás Ó Murchú (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

We are considering the future, not of Uisce Éireann but of the water of Ireland and its availability, its quality, conservation and the uncontested right of the Irish people to this life-giving resource. That right was challenged during the evolution of Uisce Éireann when at one stage people were threatened with having their water turned off, in other words, that one could not wash or cook for one's children. The people power on the streets got that modified to some extent. They were told Irish Water would not turn the water off completely, but would only give a little water. Therefore, a person could only wash himself or herself a little and only cook every so often. Out of the Proclamation of 1916 came the big question: how were we cherishing all the children of the nation equally if we told them we would turn off their water if they did not pay? Often these were people who could not pay. I acknowledge that the Minister has made a valiant effort to salvage at a point of no return. That point of no return was not at that particular stage but when we did not make this a red-line issue in Europe, which we should have done. We had taken on austerity measures and we crucified the people of Ireland with them. They suffered so much. However, when it came to water, a life-giving resource, we should have stated quite clearly, "Thus far and no further", and then we would have been doing what was right for the people.

It has been said here that the setting up of Uisce Éireann is akin to the setting up of the ESB, but that was not evident in Dáil Éireann when the legislation was first brought in and the guillotine used after two hours. If it was akin to the setting up of the ESB, surely we should have been talking of two days or three days. That is why we find ourselves in the position we are in today.

Sometimes it would pay to listen a little more closely to the man and woman on the street and the common sense which one will hear from them. We heard it, the Minister heard it. The question is - did we listen carefully? When 300,000 to 400,000 people take to the streets, that is because they have not been listened to in the initial stages. It is disingenuous to try in some way to diminish what those people were doing or, worse, as has been happening at times, to misrepresent the decent people of Ireland who knew full well that they could not pay any more - they had paid it all. We are comfortable here. We are well paid and we have expenses. Sometimes it is very difficult to get down off the hobby horse and realise what we mean by "people just cannot pay". There are still children going to school whose families cannot clothe them. There are still people going to bed early in the evening to stay warm. We do not experience this. It is a different world out there. There are people who cannot even get one meal a day and this is an independent republic which will celebrate 1916 in a year's time.

What will happen here today? I am not taking any political partisan position on this at all. If the Minister thinks that passing today's legislation solves the problem, he is wrong. It does quite the opposite. I will tell him what it will do.

What does the Government propose to do to about the unrest that has built up? Will the hundreds of thousands of people who protested on the streets and other people who do not pay the poll tax be taken to court or imprisoned?