Joe Costello (Dublin Central, Labour) | Oireachtas source

The Government has admitted it made mistakes with the introduction of Irish Water, as well as its infrastructure, and it has listened to the people. It is a bit rich to hear Sinn Féin complaining that we should have listened to the people. When we did listen and came up with a fair presentation of how we will address the issue of Irish Water, it still complains that we have not listened. One cannot get it right, in Sinn Féin’s opinion, yet its members are doing flip-flops on the issue themselves. Only a few weeks ago, the leader of Sinn Féin stated in the House that he would be paying the water charges. Now, no one in Sinn Féin is going to pay the water charges. It is amazing how quickly they listened to the people and did an about-turn when they realised they were being outflanked by some of the loony left, led by Deputy Paul Murphy, who cannot realise that imprisoning the Tánaiste and Minister for Social Protection, while wondering whether he would let her go, is not right in a democratic society. It is outrageous that someone could do that and still believe they are operating in a democratic society.

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