David Cullinane (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I cannot welcome this Bill and will not be supporting it. There is no doubt that it represents a sleight of hand on the part of the Government. Rather than bring forward legislation in the correct manner, once again it is abusing the parliamentary process for its own ends. It should have introduced a stand-alone Bill to deal with water charges. This legislation, which the Government brought before us with its tail between its legs, is essentially the water services Bill mark IV. Despite multiple attempts by the Government to correct its water policy, the entire process has been a disaster from the outset. The Government is not prepared to acknowledge that it made a mistake on the issue of water charges, however.The Minister of State and her party have simply implemented Fine Gael policies. The Government does not even have the ability to bring forward legislation in the most appropriate manner. It has castrated this Bill by putting in a whole series of amendments to make it something it should never have been in the first place and it is doing it because it lacks courage. It is doing it because it has tried to pull a fast one. It has tried to pull a stroke. Here we are again with more stroke politics from this Government.

This Government is developing a very interesting narrative, which will be the stake driven right through the heart of the Labour Party. The damage the Minister of State and her colleagues have done to the Labour Party is absolutely irreversible.