Mattie McGrath (Tipperary South, Independent)

The Minister and Deputy McGuinness were good friends for a while, but I hear they are going to fall out on this one. We could use many different words and moods to describe the Minister, but he said this would be a short and straightforward Bill. There is nothing short about it, although it is straightforward and direct. It is penalising ordinary householders - the people who went out and built their houses, maintained them and did not go knocking on the Minister's door or other doors looking for houses. They are the doers and the achievers, those who went out and did all they could. They are the people who are being penalised again here. The Minister blames the EU-IMF and the troika, but that has gone out the window. This is the Minister's budget, not that of John Gormley or any of the old Ministers. It is this Government that has introduced these cruel charges. I am glad his backbenchers, some of the Labour Party backbenchers and, moreover, the Government's county councillors around the country have allowed him the silly season to take the Water Services (Amendment) Bill off the agenda and regroup. They want to rethink and try to bring the Minister into line. It was a septic Bill, becoming more septic by the hour, and the Minister was not able to handle it. That is the real reason. It is not a shortage of time. The Taoiseach was telling us we could have extra time tomorrow and the day after to discuss what we are discussing today.

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