Right2Water: 'Passing of Boylan Report in EU a serious blow to Irish Government'

THE Right2Water campaign in Ireland has described the passing of Sinn Féin MEP Lynn Boylan's report on the Right2Water Citizen's Initiative at the European Parliament as a "victory for the Irish and European Right2Water movements, and a further blow to the Government."

Right2Water also hit out at attempts by Fine Gael and their Tory allies to water down the report.

"Parliament has now called on the European Commission to produce legislative proposals which would enshrine the human right to water in EU legislation, not to promote the privatisation of water services and to ensure that water affordability issues are assessed," the movement said in a statement.

"The report calls for water services to be kept out of the internal market and TTIP, and calls on the Commission to respect Member States’ choice of water ownership," it said.

On Tuesday Fine Gael and Labour attempted to muddy the waters by claiming that Sinn Féin's support for the Report implied that they now backed water charges.

Responding to the allegations, Lynn Boylan described Fine Gael's comments as a "distraction tactic" and said Fine Gael are "running scared on the issue"

"Sinn Féin’s position is clear – we are absolutely opposed to domestic water charges. The wording they mention came from another political group. Sinn Féin did not vote in favour of the wording in question during the committee stage and unfortunately Fine Gael have blocked all attempts to remove the wording in the plenary.  This report is a compromise document which received over 250 amendments from all the different political groups yet we managed to keep most but not all the progressive elements."