Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

We learned, for example, that the average cost will be between €250 and €300 and that the free allowance will consist of a seven minute power shower, a three minute tap run to brush one's teeth and two flushes of the toilet and that is basically it. That is the level of detail that was available this morning. There will be an annual standing charge, we were told, applying to all households irrespective of how much water they use. Basically, householders will pay for every drop of water used beyond the most basic morning routine. We have also learned that social welfare protection for low income families and particularly for pensioners has been ruled out.

I remember the Tánaiste saying, very eloquently, in 2010 that he was against water charging because water is a necessity, and that he always believed essential services like water should be delivered as a public service. Despite this, for some reason the Government has set up a very expensive and complicated regime in Irish Water, costing €180 million, despite that water will still be produced and delivered by the very same people who have been delivering it for decades.

I have a number of questions for the Taoiseach. Were the Labour Party Ministers informed about this level of detail in advance of it being circulated to the media by the Government? Was a memo brought to Government today on the new water tax and was a decision taken? Can the Taoiseach confirm that the free allowance is as revealed in The Irish Times and Irish Independent? We meet many people throughout the country in the course of our duties who say they have no more to give with all the other charges they have had to cope with, particularly pensioners who have been very hard hit by the previous two budgets.

See this speech in context