Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)

I certainly will allow the Taoiseach to give the details contained in his briefing note. The schools and parents want to know the detail because the Taoiseach's latest statement does not add to their store of knowledge about their position. Must schools that received bills of between €500 and €10,000 hold on to those bills or dump them? Will they be paying a flat charge from 1 January? If so, how is it to be computed on the basis of school size? What will the flat charge be for a 40-pupil country school in Caherciveen as opposed to one in Kildare that is bursting at the seams? Will the Department of Education and Science negotiate with the local authority between now and the end of January on the flat rate? Will schools that have already paid their bills receive a refund over and above the flat rate the Taoiseach intends to introduce for the transition period? This refund could be used for many facilities in those schools.

Given that the framework directive requires the use of financial incentives so individuals, from pupils to adults, can understand the importance of water conservation, with which concept they generally agree, what system will be introduced by the Government from 2010? Will the flat rate be abolished and will a generous allowance be given to every school above which a charge will apply? Can we take it that all these questions will be dealt with when the House resumes at the end of January 2008?

In the past six months, we have had leadership by the worst Government in the past 40 years. It has lurched from crisis to crisis, including those involving provisional licences, cancer scares, the inability to publish reports and the acceptance of huge pay increases by the Government. As the Taoiseach might say, we are not going to play "smokes and daggers" with this. There have been climbdowns every day. I heard the Minister of State at the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Deputy John McGuinness, say an hour ago that he does U-turns every day and the Government is quite prepared to do U-turns every day. The signs are that this is the case.

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