Gerry Adams (Louth, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

It is very important to have a sense of humour when coming in here to ask questions. Flann O'Brien could not have written the script the Taoiseach articulates from day to day. I do not think he gets it at all. There are people who just cannot afford an additional tax on top of all the other taxes the Government has imposed on them.

He just cannot come in here and say he disagrees with an Teachta O'Dowd; the Taoiseach appointed him to the job. He made these points not in an off-the-cuff interview, but in a scripted article, so I presume he considered what he was saying. He made a series of criticisms of how Uisce Éireann is being operated. More importantly, he said that he raised these questions with the Taoiseach. Is this again what we have seen with the Minister, Deputy Reilly, and the former Minister, Deputy Shatter? Is this the way the Government does its business?

I will put, if I may, the questions to the Taoiseach again. I am very mindful, by the way, that this was a Fianna Fáil proposition, but the Government is going ahead with it. Does the Taoiseach acknowledge that many households simply cannot afford to pay the water tax? I seek a simple "Yes" or "No". Will the Government give struggling families and hard-pressed citizens a break by abolishing the tax? Will it turn off this water tax for the sake of citizens?

I will ensure that the Taoiseach has an off-the-top-of-the-press copy of Sinn Féin's budget.

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