Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

We should look at the track record of Deputy Joan Collins. She has come before this House repeatedly and assured people she will defeat tax after tax. She tells people not to pay these taxes and then comes before the House and says she opposes changes to services that are funded by the same taxes. This is the Deputy's track record of honesty and consistency with the communities she represents. Deputy Collins has spoken in the House of the need for debate and the scrutiny of track records but we know her tactics on this issue. The Deputy wants to see people shouted down and does not want to engage in debate. She does not wish to hear views exchanged.

This Government has announced changes to the water charges system today because it listened to the legitimate concerns of people. The Government has acted on these concerns and the future needs of the country. Fianna Fáil Members are absent from the Chamber, as usual, and that party always kicked challenges and problems into the future - this Government has not done this because such behaviour only causes problems and costs to grow until they are unbearable. In the face of all this the Government has not been blown off course by the party that caused the crisis and other forces, such as the Deputies opposite and Sinn Féin, that have sought to worsen this mess. They seek to exacerbate the crisis and the only things uniting the Opposition parties are a sense of denial that the problems I outlined exist and an inability to put forward ways to explain how solutions will be funded.

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