Eoin Ó Broin had a dream . . .

NEWLY-ELECTED TD Eoin Ó Broin, speaking to Motion 19 on water charges, told the Sinn Féin Ard Fheis at the Convention Centre Dublin at the weekend that he had had a dream – but it wasn’t like Martin Luther King’s.

The new TD for Dublin Mid West said:

I had a very strange dream last night.

I woke up after an election campaign and found that everything had changed.

Mícheál Martin was talking about “New Politics”.

He was talking about fairness.

He said that Fianna Fáil would honour its election promises.

I couldn't believe my ears.

He said he would not put Enda Kenny back in Government.

He said he would abolish Irish Water and end water charges.

He was surrounded by a bright light and for a second I though I saw a halo above his head.

But then, suddenly, things started to change.

The bright light was gone.

Mícheál was standing alongside Enda Kenny.

They were grinning and slapping each other on the back.

Fianna Fáil were going to put Enda back in office after all.

Water charges were not going to be abolished.

A coalition in everything but name was agreed.

I suddenly realised that it wasn't a dream.

It was our worst nightmare.

A Fine Gael/Fianna Fáil coalition.

It was back to business as usual.

No “New Politics”.

No election promises kept.

Just a grubby little deal between Tweedle Dum and Tweedle Dee – two conservative parties desperate to control government and opposition.

Of course, nobody should be surprised by any of this.

Fianna Fáil was never serious about new politics, nor about abolishing water charges.

Leopards don't change their spots.

And – thanks to Mícheál – we will have yet another another government that puts the interests of the elites above the rest of us.

But things do not have to be that way.

Real change is possible.

Water charges can be abolished.

But only if we continue the campaign on the streets and in the Dáil.

Motion 19 reaffirms Sinn Féin’s commitment to abolish water charges.

To abolish Irish Water, to enshrine the public ownership of water services in the Constitution.

And to deliver water and sanitation services on the basis of need and not means.

Today, Right2Water TDs co-signed a motion which we want debated in the Dáil next week.

We are giving Fianna Fáil a chance to honour their word.

All they need to do is support the motion being debated next week and to vote for it.

Anything short of this is betrayal – pure and simple.

If they think that the hundreds of thousands of people who mobilised against water charges are going to take such a betrayal lying down, they have another think coming.

If they think they can break their election promise to end water charges and get away with it, they have another think coming.

So let's wipe the smile off Mícheál’s and Enda’s face

Support Motion 19 and let's keep up the pressure on Government to respect the will of the electorate and scrap these unjust charges.