Mark Ward (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

On Tuesday, Sinn Féin introduced a Bill in the Dáil that would scrap water charges for good and prevent the Government from introducing them in the future. It would put an end to the debate for good, even if the Government wanted to introduce charges for water. Lo and behold, surprise, surprise, the Government voted against this, leaving the door ajar to introducing water charges in the future. In fact, Deputy Ó Broin and I were the only two TDs in Dublin Mid-West who voted against introducing water charges for ordinary workers and families. Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael have been doing their usual flying of kites in recent weeks. They were conniving in the background to reimpose water charges through the back door. This sounded alarm bells and these alarm bells simply could not be ignored. This conniving has been going on since 2017 with the Government's plan for the so-called excessive use charge. This is nothing but a Trojan horse. We all know that once the Government gets its teeth into the people of the State and introduces any form of domestic water charge, it simply will not let go.

I was part of the Right2Water campaign and I joined hundreds of thousands of people across this island. We marched, we protested, we campaigned and we did not give up. Ultimately, we defeated the imposition of water charges. This united front defeated the privatisation interest of Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil.

Privatisation of public services simply does not work. In fact, it has been a disaster in some areas. It has not worked in public transport, where we have seen a new phenomenon of ghost buses and a lack of confidence among commuters to use public transport. It has not worked in waste management, where we have seen cartel-like price hikes imposed on customers. It also has a negative impact on the environment, with multiple bin trucks going down the same roads at all hours of the day and night.

The purpose of the Sinn Féin Bill was very simple. If the Government wanted the public to believe it had no intention of introducing water charges, it would simply have supported it. The Government had a chance to put this matter to bed, once and for all, but it failed to take this chance.

I also wish to raise a local issue that is affecting residents in my area. Residents in Westbourne, Clondalkin, have stated that activity by the council and Irish Water trucks in the Deansrath depot takes place early and on most days of the week, including weekends. This work takes place at all hours of the week at the depot and is impacting the mental health of the residents in Westbourne. Soil, sand and rock collected by contractors at other sites are brought here and placed at the depot behind the houses on Westbourne Close, which residents say leads to noise and dust pollution. The Westbourne residents group wants waste materials stored and dealt with on the other side of the yard, away from residential housing. It also cites issues with rats and seagulls as a result of waste being dumped at the depot.

The Sinn Féin councillor for the area, William Carey, has done Trojan work on this issue. He has requested that the council ensures that activities at the depot do not have a detrimental impact on the residents in Westbourne. It is my understanding that drinking water and wastewater operations, which are now under the remit of Uisce Éireann, are planned to move out of Deansrath in 2025 to a new depot. That cannot come soon enough for the residents of Westbourne. There are signs in place to remind staff to keep noise to a minimum and to keep the yard as clean as possible. Even with these signs, however, the residents of Westbourne say that despite numerous communications to South Dublin County Council and Irish Water, the problem remains as bad as ever.

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