Fine Gael spins on EU Right2Water report – Sinn Féin absolutely opposed to domestic Water Charges

FINE GAEL has been accused by Sinn Féin MEP Lynn Boylan of “desperate attempts to smear the victory of the Right2Water campaign in the European Parliament” by suggesting that Sinn Féin backs Water Charges when it doesn't. “Sinn Féin’s position is clear – we are absolutely opposed to domestic Water Charges,” Lynn Boylan said.

“Fine Gael is on the run on this issue,” she added.

“The party is attempting to distract from the fact that in the European Parliament today they failed to vote in favour of a report which enshrines the human right to water.

“In fact, they were the only Irish MEPs to vote against the report.

“Irish MEPs who have also consistently opposed Fine Gael's and Labour’s Water Charges voted in favour of this report, highlighting Fine Gael’s dishonesty,” the Sinn Féin MEP pointed out.

“Sinn Féin’s position is clear – we are absolutely opposed to domestic water charges.

The wording in the report being cited by Fine Gael to muddy the issue came from another political group, she said, adding:

“I did not write it and 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.

“This in itself is a significant achievement and amounts to a huge victory for the citizens and a major wake-up call for the Commission and certain member states.”

Lynn Boylan said this report calls on the Commission to come forward with a legislative proposal to enshrine the human right to water, to not promote the privatisation of water services and to exclude water services from the internal market and any trade agreements, including TTIP.

“I am also extremely happy that water is finally recognised in an EU document as a public good and not a commodity,” the Sinn Féin MEP said.

“The supposed reasons Fine Gael has given for voting against (that so-called compromise amendments did not pass) is simply not true.

“There were no compromise amendments to vote on. They voted against because they failed to remove the most progressive elements of the report.

“They failed to delete criticism of the Troika, failed to delete the call on the Commission to back off member states on how they manage their water services, and failed to get rid of criticism of privatisation in the water sector.

“By playing these distraction games, Fine Gael is trying to hide the fact that they did not vote in favour of such a progressive report.”