Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)

For the Deputy's information, he can take it as a given that in the general discussions that take place about this matter, the priority of Government is to see, reflect and understand the difficulties that many people have. However, as I have explained to him on many occasions in the past, troika or no troika, we in this country have to sort out our public finance problems ourselves. Nobody will walk in with a cheque and say it has all been paid for. Everybody is involved in this and the Government understands the burden on those who have real difficulty, which is why we have introduced waivers, exemptions and regulations which lessen that burden.

The question was asked of somebody yesterday whether VAT will be imposed on water. The answer is "No" because, as Deputies know, water is exempt from VAT under European regulations.

See this speech in context