Barry Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

The claim that working families have been protected by maintaining the average bill is nothing short of dishonest. The entire repackaging of water charges is nothing more than a complex PR exercise to spare the blushes of the guys involved and to allow people to think Fine Gael is listening to its partner in government and that it will give it a break. What the Government has done is up the charges to be paid, not reduce them. Either the Minister of State will publish the cost per litre, tonight or before 23 May, in order that families will be able to see the real costs and charges or I and, I am sure, Deputy Joe Higgins and others will say that, as usual, the public has been sold a pup and a pig in a poke. It is a three-card trick. I commend the motion to the House.

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