Cllr. Ted Tynan (WP)

Workers’ Party Cork City Councillor Ted Tynan has said that the Oireachtas Committeee on Water Charges is an expensive foregone conclusion and has demanded that the matter be put to a referendum for the people to decide.

Speaking at the Workers’ Party Ard Fheis in Dublin at the weekend, Cllr. Tynan said the leaked news over the weekend that the so-called Expert Commission on Water Charges was likely to find in favour of some level of water charges comes as no surprise to anti water charges activists.

“Once again the fact that people already pay for water through central taxation has been deliberately ignored. There is no point in going through  an Oirechtas Committee because we have seen the way TDs elected with a clear mandate to abolish water charges have ducked and dived on this issue time and time again.  Let the people decide” said Cllr. Tynan.

“The people have spoken on this matter.  97 out of the 158 TDs in the present Dáil were elected with a clear mandate to abolish water charges. Hundreds of thousands of people have taken to the streets to oppose these unjust charges.  It is time to face up to the reality that they and Irish Water Ltd are merely a pathway to privatisation and ever higher charges.”.

On Saturday over 150 delegates at the Workers’ Party Ard Fheis voted unanimously to demand a referendum calling for the immediate abandonment of the water meter installation program, the abolition of Irish Water and to enshrine water in the Irish constitution as an essential natural resource for life.