They are doing the harassing themselves.

Peaceful protest in this country is perfectly legitimate but it is not legitimate to stop people from going about their duty and their work. The gardaí have had to be called in a number of cases where much more than peaceful protest took place. In other locations around the country, I have had evidence that where work started in some estates, people suddenly arrived to protest. I have had evidence of residents actually coming out and asking these people to remove themselves. It seems as if there are some groups who travel from location to location to protest. As the Deputy said, they are entitled to protest but they are only entitled to protest legitimately and they cannot interfere with and should not prohibit people going about their lawful work.

Irish Water is designed to bring quality water infrastructure for the country and that should not be interfered with. There is a process that the law applies for everybody here. As I said, in many other parts of the country contractors have installed water meters without anybody appearing, and they have done a first class job. It is all part of the capacity to provide high quality water for the people of our country and for business for years to come.

We do not need meters to provide high quality water.

Yes, we do not need meters to have good water. The question I am asking is very simple. The gardaí refused to act to stop an illegal eviction by a landlord on the basis it was a civil matter. Yet, while other people stand peacefully over a water shore, they are told it is an illegal protest, and section 12 of the Irish Water Act is quoted, which states that Irish Water and its agencies can install water meters in an area. It does not say that person should not have the right to say "I do not want a water meter".

The Taoiseach brought in questions of people travelling around the country and around the city, and all of that. I was at a meeting last week in Drimnagh called by the Drimnagh residents support group, a residents association in the area, where more than 300 people came out and said they did not want water meters installed at their premises or at their homes. If an ordinary person comes out and says to Irish Water or the subcontractor, "I do not want a water meter here, go on to the next house if they want a water meter", that is quite legitimate. Instead, the gardaí are being used to stand in estates, taking registrations of cars going in and out, removing people from the stopcocks over the shores and arresting them, bringing them down to Coolock Garda station and telling them they must wait to see if Irish Water or the subcontractor will press charges.

This is one law for those who have plenty of money and one law for those who are peacefully resisting. Ordinary people are coming out of their homes, with their children, to say they do not want a water meter installed, and they do this in the knowledge that they will get an assessed bill in the future - they are well aware of that so they are not doing this blind. They do not want a water meter and they are very angry. It is just a microcosm of the anger that this Government is imposing another austerity tax on people. I want clarity from the Taoiseach on this. Why is one law being used in one circumstance and another law being interpreted by gardaí as being a criminal matter when it comes to protests about water meters?

Evictions and people being removed from their homes are very traumatic incidents. As I said, if the Deputy gives me the details, we will look at that. The Deputy said we do not need water meters to have good water, and that is true. However, the taxpayers of this country are paying €1.2 billion to produce that water. We cannot have a situation where people can expect to have a free water supply of good water paid for the taxpayer, with some people not contributing.

These water meters are installed on the public thoroughfare, not on private property.

They are outside people's houses.

The contractors who are subcontracted to Irish Water will not go onto private property unless they are invited to do so. When the situation kicks in where the first leak between the meter and the edge of the house will apply, obviously, the recommendation is to fix that free. Water meters are on the public thoroughfare, and they are there because water paid for by the public is going through that pipe.

It is perfectly in order for people to have a legitimate protest, and I meet them around the country on so many occasions, but it is not legal to prevent people from doing their job and doing their duty, for which they are paid, in order to provide water meters on public property so that a contribution can be had from those who avail of the water flowing through those pipes. That water is produced and paid for by the Irish taxpayer.

We want to see a situation where the charges are fair, equitable and affordable. The water meters are on public property and not on private property. If people want to protest legitimately about that, they are entitled to do so but they are not entitled to prohibit or prevent people from doing their duty.