Gerry Adams (Louth, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I do not know whether the Labour Party has taken up an abstentionist policy on Leaders' Questions, or perhaps its members are embarrassed. The sorry saga of the Taoiseach's efforts to impose an additional water tax on households and his establishment of the now totally discredited Irish Water is a metaphor for how this Government functions, or indeed does not function. There was no need to impose an additional water charge in the first instance, but the Government did so. There was no need to pay €85 million of taxpayers' money to consultants but the Government did that as well.

The Government could have listened to suggestions from these benches, but instead it forced through the Water Services Bill. Back then, the Government threatened to reduce household supplies to a trickle. Popular anger grew and the protests got bigger, so the Government did a partial U-turn. It also failed with that. In the meantime, in the background the Siteserv scandal was being covered up by the Government and a subsidiary of Siteserv was given a lucrative contract for installing water meters across the State. All of this happened on the Taoiseach's watch.

Now we learn from the media that the Government is discussing draconian and unprecedented new powers to deduct water charges from citizens' wages, pensions and social welfare payments. Is it not time to go back to the drawing board? Will the Taoiseach now, belatedly, scrap the water charges?

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