Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

The difficulty arising from the questions put by Deputy Cowen is that everybody can see that the Government's handling of this unfair water tax has been shambolic. It also emphasised again the fact that the Government has been less than fully frank with people or with Members of the Dáil when dealing with these issues. Before Christmas, the Tánaiste's colleague, the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government, Deputy Alan Kelly, led us to believe that the cost of administering this sweetener, conservation grant or bribe - however it could be described - would be €130 million. The Tánaiste's colleague went to some lengths to create the impression that this was the total cost and that all loose ends had been tied up. We now discover this is not the case. I commend the Tánaiste on her preparation of business development plans-----

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