Terry Leyden (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I remind people that we are being watched by a big audience at the moment. Someone said to me the Chair was made for me, I should go to the Lower House and try the Chair because I was more qualified for that as well. I thank whoever made that unknown request. I do not get requests like that.

The Minister has inherited an unholy mess from the previous Minister. It is quite clear that the Government is trying to unscramble a scrambled egg at this stage. This Bill is an effort to undo a bit of this. I have never come across a Bill so close to another Bill that went through the Houses and became law. This Bill aims to pull back from that.

I see two different elements in this situation. There are people in contact with me who said that they are prepared to pay water charges provided the water is in public ownership and is not privatised. They are absolutely terrified of this. Another group of people have said that they will never pay. One third of the population-----