Niall Collins (Limerick, Fianna Fail)

Can the charge be avoided completely? The Minister has capacity now, following the savings the Government has accrued under the EU-IMF agreement through the interest rate reduction and so forth, to avoid the charge.

Finally, a political charge was made about Fianna Fáil. Fine Gael controls the majority of local authorities in this country, which are the biggest polluters of our waters and rivers. If he wishes to point the finger politically at who is responsible for this, he should look to his own party first. Fine Gael is in charge of the majority of the local authorities and they did not drive forward with the water investment services programme that was in place. They did not avail of it. That is a fact.

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