Today, Irish Water issued its fourth deadline for people to register their details. People have a fourth chance to register with them in April. Apart from it being a subversion of the English language, does the Taoiseach agree it is another sign of desperation on the part of the Government and Irish Water? It seems the Labour Party and the Labour Minister have as flexible an attitude to deadlines as they have to election promises to not impose water charges. Despite giving people four chances, does the Taoiseach agree that issuing 2.1 million packs and receiving fewer than 900,000 is an abysmal failure?

The Deputy's figures are wrong.

It is a registration rate of less than 50% despite the best efforts of the Taoiseach. That is accompanied by the €100 people get for doing nothing but registering with Irish Water. The Government should not take it as any guarantee that those people will pay the bills when they arrive in April.

Will the Taoiseach proceed with his despicable plan to steal money for Irish Water from council tenants and private tenants in the State? The Taoiseach wants to turn councils and landlords into debt collectors for a semi-State company. Judging by comments made this morning, it seems the Taoiseach wants to turn landlords into bullyboys of their tenants to get them to pay Irish Water. When is the Taoiseach planning to introduce this item of discriminatory legislation against non-homeowners? Does the Taoiseach not think people in the private rented sector have enough on their plates thanks to the housing crisis foisted upon them, rising rents and the danger of being made homeless at any time by selfsame landlords if they do not pay the unfair austerity measure?

The Government is taking on a huge sector. The CSO released figures last weekend showing that, in Dublin, only 59.4% of people own their homes. In the capital city, the Government will be taking on hundreds of thousands of council tenants or private tenants. If the Taoiseach thinks people will take this lying down, he is badly mistaken. Last night, I spoke at a meeting of almost 200 people in a community in Athlone. They turned out in sub-zero temperatures, as it was -3° Celsius when I arrived there. Their mission was to discuss how not to pay water charges and how to persuade the Government to get rid of them.

Perhaps the Taoiseach will comment on the huge protests that took place on Saturday. Despite it not being officially called by any group, with the protests being self-organised by communities, and despite it being the start of a new year, people turned out in their tens of thousands against water charges. Does the Taoiseach agree the steam has not gone out of the water charges issue? Does the Taoiseach agree he should abolish Irish Water and the water charges before the Government is faced with even further humiliation in 2015? The indications are that a massive boycott of water charges, and not just of registration, lies ahead if the Government does not do so.

What about Michael Davitt?

Captain Boycott again.

I do not agree that Irish Water should be abolished or that water charges should be abolished. Deputy Ruth Coppinger is well aware that the charge for a single person is €1.15 per week, once registered with Irish Water and after receiving the contribution of €100, and €3 in respect of two or more adults living in a household. Deputy Coppinger seems to distinguish between what she calls council tenants and others but there are council tenants in places other than the Deputy's constituency. Many of them have been paying for water for years and are glad and happy to get a good supply of water. Deputy Coppinger seems to distinguish between the people of the country and seems to be happy that people in this country should continue for years to have to boil water for themselves and their children.

That is rubbish. This is not fooling anybody.

The Deputy seems to be happy that 42 towns continue emptying raw sewage into lakes and rivers.

Is that what Deputy Higgins wants?

She seems to be happy that a couple of thousand kilometres of inferior water should continue to leak into the ground. She seems to be happy that people, including those she called council tenants but I call citizens of our country, live in houses supplied by lead pipes. She seems to think it is appropriate to continue with such a situation but I do not.

The Taoiseach is not being fair.

It is about time everybody understood that we all have a contribution to make. The Government listened carefully to the vast majority of people who engaged in legitimate protests about water, and their feelings on it, over the last number of months. I deplore the small number of people who carried that way beyond the bounds of decency and normality in attacking Uachtarán na hÉireann in the way that they did.

Deputy Coppinger's party.

No, it was not.

This is not in keeping with democratic decency and if Deputy Coppinger has any authority or influence in that regard, she might deal with it. Irish Water is not going to be abolished. It exists for the purpose of fixing the current situation and investing for the future. I note the party in front of Deputy Coppinger has a very peculiar way of putting forward its economic perspective on this matter. It is now down to what it describes as all forms of formula. As far as the Government is concerned, we have listened carefully to ordinary people who have concerns about this. We want to bring about a situation whereby a charge of €1.15 applies to a single person, and a €3 for two or more people. That still allows people to beat the cap once the meters have been installed over the coming period.

Yet again the Taoiseach failed to answer my central question on whether he is happy with the registration figures. I will take his reply as a "No". It is obvious that if people do not register, even though the Government is giving them €100 to do so, they are unlikely to pay the water charges in April. I was offering him a chance to save his own skin by retreating from this abysmal policy of pushing Irish Water and water charges. The Taoiseach never listens but everybody knows that charges start at a certain level and the only way is up. Bin charges, which the Government always throws back at us for failing to prevent, have increased by 400% since they were introduced. People know the intention is to introduce the concept of payment so that the rates can be ratcheted up as the years go by.

In regard to protests, despite the best efforts of the Taoiseach and some in the media, the position of my party and the Anti-Austerity Alliance is very clear. We defend the right of people to protest. We do not resort to personal insults. That is not our method.

The Deputy should ask Murphy's law sitting beside her.

We focus on-----

I ask the Deputy to put her question.

Happily, in any meetings I attended people no longer believed the media. There is huge cynicism in that regard-----

We believe what we see.

I ask Deputy Coppinger to put her question.

The bills are coming in April, and that is the focus of the Anti-Austerity Alliance and the We Won't Pay campaign. We will be linking up with tens of thousands of other people all around the country, speaking at meetings where we can and assisting communities in boycotting these bills. A huge number of people have already decided not to pay and I think many more will be joining them.

The Deputy is way over time. I ask her to put her question.

Is the Taoiseach happy with the registration figures given that the return rate is less than 50%? If he is not happy, what does he plan to do about it? Clearly he should retreat on water charges.

Coming as he does from County Mayo, he should know about boycotts.

There has been a huge increase in the number of people all over the country registering with Irish Water in the last few days. More than 1.125 million people and households have responded to the campaign and almost 900,000 Irish Water customers have registered, or 59% of customers. We encourage as many people as possible to register over the next period. The position is that if somebody does not register, a default two-adult household bill of €260 will issue and those people will not be entitled to the €100 contribution made by the State, having listened to the people very carefully.

Tell that to the Minister. He says there is no problem at all.

The Minister has made it clear that nobody is going to be cut off in respect of water.

He would not dare.

That is an important element. It is not the same as gas or electricity. A different model has to be supplied here and the Government wants to be as flexible and amenable to the concerns of people as possible. The Deputy said that her party defends the right to protest, as does my party and every party. However, I did not hear her say that she condemns the disgraceful remarks made about Uachtarán na hÉireann.

Did he not listen to the radio last week?

I did not hear her condemn - irrespective of whether they are members of her party - the antics and behaviour of a small number of people who have brought the water campaign into complete and utter disrepute.

They have not.

They turned off hundreds of people who were prepared to join the original marches but who are now fed up to the teeth with the current carry on.

Dream on.

Just because a few idiots misbehave at the All Ireland, that does not mean one smears all 82,000 attendees.

Do not trivialise it.