Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

-----can the Minister give a guarantee that the commitment he has given today on the €100 for older people will not go the same way as the telephone allowance and the electricity allowance? If it does, that promise given today will be as good as that given by the Minister, Deputy Burton, last Sunday.

Many issues remain regarding Irish Water. There is still zero public confidence in Irish Water. There is still zero political confidence, even on the benches behind the Minister, in Irish Water. The charade of recent weeks is all about the elections on 23 May, and nothing else. The so-called fight within Government over the level of charges to households has ended up bringing us back to exactly where we were in February 2011, when Labour predicted that Fine Gael would introduce a fee of €238; the fee has increased. It predicted that in 2011 and promised it would stop it, but here we are tonight facing a minimum charge of €238 for those fortunate enough to be metered. For those unmetered that could increase to God knows what amount. That is a great result for the so-called party of the lower classes. I look forward to the Minister using this debate to bring clarity to the various issues. I look forward also to my colleague concluding the debate.

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