Michael Moynihan (Cork North West, Fianna Fail)
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Every Deputy in the House would agree that the Leader programme has been one of the most successful rural development initiatives since its introduction many years ago. It has played a major part in sustaining rural communities. There are 36 local development companies contracted on behalf of the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government to deliver the rural development programme. These groups are the principal decision makers in allocating Leader funding, and they are made up of community members who do an excellent job right across the country. This is an example of the bottom-up approach and those involved can rightly take pride in what they have achieved over the years.

Countries across Europe look at Ireland and the model we have implemented as the best example of how Leader funding can be distributed, but unfortunately the Minister and his Government are determined to change this and not for the better. In the Minister's words, he wants to improve "alignment" but this translates into simply taking decision-making powers away from Leader companies. This is not putting people first and is rather causing much disharmony and distrust across communities. The Irish Local Development Network, ILDN, has already left the alignment working group because of a breakdown in trust and the opinion that the Minister, Deputy Hogan, is not addressing the group's concerns. The Minister seems to be determined to fix something that in my opinion, and that of people in many communities the length and breadth of the country, is not broken. It is nothing short of a money grab for cash-strapped local authorities. Is the Tánaiste aware of the reservations about the realignment and does he agree it will have a detrimental impact on the Leader companies and how funding is allocated?

Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour)
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I agree that the Leader companies and local development bodies have been doing an outstanding job. This is a good example of a bottom-up approach to local development, bringing together the resources of statutory bodies, local groups and the voluntary and community efforts. I pay tribute to the work of local development companies and those who work with them.

I am aware of the concerns in local development companies and the Irish Local Development Network about changes under discussion. It is important that the role of the local development companies and networks is maintained. There are areas where better value for money for the taxpayer can be obtained by ensuring there is no duplication between what local development companies and local authorities are doing. There is some scope in that area. I have every confidence that the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government will take on board the concerns that local development companies have. I share the Deputy's concern that the local development companies should have their role continued, as the work they do should not in any way be put at risk. The effort should be continued, developed and enhanced.

Michael Moynihan (Cork North West, Fianna Fail)
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The best tribute that could be paid to local development companies, members of the boards and the people they serve is to maintain them in their current form. They are doing an excellent job, and the Leader companies directly and indirectly employ thousands of people across the country. By ploughing ahead with the proposed changes, the Minister, Deputy Hogan, is facilitating a grab on local democracy, centralising power rather than leaving it to local communities. I could go on for hours about the amount of excellent work being done by local development companies around the country but we must seriously consider the current position. Representatives of the network have left the discussions because they do not believe their points of view are being represented. This is a serious juncture for these companies so I ask the Tánaiste to ensure the local development and Leader companies will continue as they are currently constituted. They have done a fantastic job and Europe has noted what a great job we have done with the Leader programme. Nevertheless, it seems we are to dismantle it.

Will the Tánaiste confirm if the Leader companies as currently constituted will be facilitated in every way by the Departments of the Environment, Community and Local Government and Agriculture, Food and the Marine in order to be allowed tender for the next round of Leader funding?

Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour)
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It is important that the talks under way should continue. I understand from the Minister of State at the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government that the ILDN has resumed its participation in the talks and I very much welcome that. It is in the context of those talks that a resolution should be found to the issues in dispute between the local development companies and the Department.

I will paraphrase what the Deputy said, so forgive me if it is not exactly what he meant, but he seemed to argue that everything should be left as it is. We live in a world where leaving everything like that is no longer an option, and change is a reality now. However, change must be reasonable and should be discussed with all relevant parties. More importantly, change must focus on delivery of service, and these companies deliver an important service. In the process of change, the very important role of the local development companies should be recognised, developed and enhanced.

Pearse Doherty (Donegal South West, Sinn Fein)
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Yesterday we saw from the Government's dithering in explaining to householders how much it intends to force them to pay for water how the Government is oblivious to the hardships being inflicted on families across the State. It is not lost on those families that Labour had a famous advertisement released for the general election in 2011, when the party promised to protect the same families from the worst excesses of a right-wing Fine Gael single party Government. If I need to remind the Tánaiste, the advertisement warned that a one-party Labour Government would hike car tax, increase VAT-----

Michael McCarthy (Cork South West, Labour)
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The Deputy means a one-party Fine Gael Government.

Pearse Doherty (Donegal South West, Sinn Fein)
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Yes, although there is not much difference these days, in fairness. I know our Labour Party colleagues struggle to differentiate. A one-party Fine Gael Government would hike car tax, increase VAT, cut child benefit, increase DIRT, hike the tax on wine by €1 and introduce a property tax of €238 per year. Three years on, every one of those commitments from Fine Gael has been introduced or is about to be introduced. There is little wonder as we travel the roads, highways and byways across the State that people ask us what is the point of the Labour Party being in Government.

The latest tax hike, introduced today with the full support of the Labour Party, is a hike in the carbon tax from €10 to €20 per tonne of solid fuel. As the Tánaiste knows, or should know, this will hit vulnerable people hardest, many living in rural communities, elderly citizens and the poorest and most marginalised in society. He should also know that people are already struggling to get by, just to make ends meet, without this extra €1.20 on a bag of coal. An increase of this nature will result in additional fuel poverty.

The fiasco surrounding the handling of the water tax shows that the Government is in crisis as it tries to contemplate how to save the blushes of the Labour Party from the anger of the electorate.

Eric Byrne (Dublin South Central, Labour)
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It is nothing to the crisis the Deputy’s lot is in.

Pearse Doherty (Donegal South West, Sinn Fein)
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It would suit the Tánaiste better-----

Seán Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, Ceann Comhairle)
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It would suit me better if the Deputy would put his question. He is over time.

Eric Byrne (Dublin South Central, Labour)
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Where is the Deputy’s Leader?

Anthony Lawlor (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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The Deputy is doing a Gerry Adams.

Pearse Doherty (Donegal South West, Sinn Fein)
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Recognising the disastrous impacts of these cuts and tax hikes that the Government has introduced, will the Tánaiste now show some genuine commitment to, and understanding of, the hard-pressed families by scrapping the doubling of the carbon tax introduced today?

Seán Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, Ceann Comhairle)
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I remind Deputies that when I ask them to finish I mean finish.

Pearse Doherty (Donegal South West, Sinn Fein)
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I could not hear the Ceann Comhairle with the heckling.

Seán Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, Ceann Comhairle)
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The Deputy could hear perfectly well. He need not try to cod me.

Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour)
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The Sinn Féin representative today chooses to raise as the Leader’s question hardship on a family. I am quite prepared to address that. The hardship that families have endured in this country over the past few years would be a hell of a lot worse if this Government had pursued the daft economic policies that the Deputy’s party had recommended to us. Instead of now being out of the bailout and instead of jobs being created and of at least being able to say to hard-pressed families, as we do, that we are in a position to improve things, the Deputy’s party would have plunged those families into a second bailout with possible reductions in payments, through social welfare or wages, of up to 30%. That is what the Deputy’s party would have done.

The Sinn Féin memory is very short and very selective.

Dessie Ellis (Dublin North West, Sinn Fein)
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The Tánaiste could do with a bit of memory.

Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour)
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On the issue of carbon tax, which the Deputy has raised, it is my recollection that Sinn Féin supported a carbon tax.

Peter Mathews (Dublin South, Independent)
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What question is the Tánaiste answering?

Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour)
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The carbon tax was not introduced today. It was introduced in 2010. This Government delayed the implementation of the carbon tax on solid fuels in the first instance until after the 2012-13 season and then we decided to introduce it in two phases, last year, 2013, with the implementation of the first €10 per tonne of carbon. The second phase is being introduced today, the second €10 on the tonne of carbon. That brings the tax on a tonne of carbon to €20. Fianna Fáil, in its programme for Government, the recovery document it produced in 2010, told us that it would increase the tax to €30 per tonne. The carbon tax being brought in now is 50% less than that which we inherited at the start of this Government.

We are very conscious of the impact of any rise in the price of fuel on any family. That is why we are maintaining, even in difficult financial circumstances, a fuel allowance regime to which €208 million a year is being committed. It is also why we have focused on providing permanent solutions to the problem of fuel poverty by investing in retrofitting houses to make them more energy efficient. More than €57 million has been allocated to fund efficiency grant programmes in 2014. This will lead to another 12,000 low income homes being made efficient. Maybe in the second part of my answer I can inform Deputy Doherty of the other measures being taken to reduce the burden of fuel costs on hard-pressed families.

Pearse Doherty (Donegal South West, Sinn Fein)
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Sinn Féin does not support, and the Tánaiste should not suggest that we do, the increase in the carbon tax taking effect from today, which the Government introduced in the Finance Bill last year.

Pat Rabbitte (Dublin South West, Labour)
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Why did Sinn Féin vote for it?

Pearse Doherty (Donegal South West, Sinn Fein)
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We have provided a series of alternatives to this Government, comprising the Labour Party and Fine Gael, that it has rejected.

Anthony Lawlor (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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Name them.

Pearse Doherty (Donegal South West, Sinn Fein)
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The Tánaiste feels it is fit and proper to ask those many thousands of households across the State to pay additional tax on their bale of briquettes, or their bag of coal. The Tánaiste feels it is proper to ask families, whom I have met the length and breadth of this State, struggling to make ends meet, to pay an extra €1.20 on a bag of coal. Over the course of a year, if they burnt only one bag a week that would be approximately an extra €60. The Tánaiste may be oblivious to the fact that people are struggling because the commitments his party made before entering Government have not materialised. It has introduced every single one of the cuts it said Fine Gael would implement, and every tax hike it promised to protect against.

Seán Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, Ceann Comhairle)
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Would the Deputy please put his question?

Pearse Doherty (Donegal South West, Sinn Fein)
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It is currently at the later stages of signing, sealing and delivering the water tax.

Seán Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, Ceann Comhairle)
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This is not a time for making speeches. Would the Deputy put his question?

Pearse Doherty (Donegal South West, Sinn Fein)
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Will the Tánaiste stand up for ordinary people and stop the doubling of carbon tax, which is taking effect under his Government, his leadership, with the full support of the Labour Party today?

Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour)
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Families are suffering because of the recession we had, the collapse of the banking system, what happened in the property bubble and the bad decisions made by the previous Government, which Sinn Féin supported. Deputy Doherty is in no position to come in here and rant and rave about what hard-pressed families are suffering. He is the Deputy who, as a Member of the Seanad, told the then Government what a great idea he thought the bank guarantee was.

Arthur Spring (Kerry North-West Limerick, Labour)
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Facts.

Barry Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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The Labour Party and Fine Gael supported it and extended it.

Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour)
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Does he still think the bank guarantee is such a good idea, as he did in September 2008?

Peter Mathews (Dublin South, Independent)
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That was the end of the problem, not the beginning.

Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour)
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Anybody who got it so dramatically wrong on that occasion is in no position to lecture us on how to deal with the problem now.

Barry Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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Why did this Government extend it?

Finian McGrath (Dublin North Central, Independent)
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Fine Gael supported it.

Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour)
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One day Sinn Féin will say it is for a carbon tax and when it is implemented, it will say it is against it.

Barry Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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The Tánaiste should stand up for something for once in his life.

Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour)
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Another day Sinn Féin will say it is for a wealth tax and when that is implemented, it will say it is against it.

Billy Kelleher (Cork North Central, Fianna Fail)
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This reminds me of the water charges.

Pearse Doherty (Donegal South West, Sinn Fein)
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Every bit hurts. That was the advertisement that the Labour Party liked. It delivered it all, every single bit of it.

Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour)
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Who is hurting now?

We accept and acknowledge that fuel poverty is an issue in this country.

Brian Stanley (Laois-Offaly, Sinn Fein)
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The Tánaiste should check the Official Report.

Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour)
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That is why we have sought to-----

Pearse Doherty (Donegal South West, Sinn Fein)
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-----increase the cost of fuel.

Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour)
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-----address the issue of fuel poverty by introducing retrofitting in houses-----

Billy Kelleher (Cork North Central, Fianna Fail)
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-----by increasing the cost of fuel.

Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour)
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-----for example, the €30 million the Minister of State at the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government, Deputy O’Sullivan, has provided to provide energy efficiency in local authority houses in 2014.

Pearse Doherty (Donegal South West, Sinn Fein)
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It is a fantasy to think the Government can do that by increasing the cost of fuel.

Sandra McLellan (Cork East, Sinn Fein)
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That really is a good one.

Finian McGrath (Dublin North Central, Independent)
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Daft economics.

Seán Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, Ceann Comhairle)
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I remind Members that this is Leaders' Questions.

Barry Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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It is Leaders' answers.

Seán Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, Ceann Comhairle)
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It is designed for the Opposition to put a question to the Government of the day, not to make speeches on various issues. Deputies should please adhere to the rules of the House. If they want to change them, they can do so but I am here to implement them.

Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Independent)
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Like everyone else in this House, I have been out canvassing, knocking on doors, in my case in North Kildare. The issue on everybody’s lips is water charges. It is a lightning rod for this election and invariably other taxes and charges come up in the conversation as well.

Members of this House call for certainty on the household bills people will receive but I hear the last thing people want is the certainty that another bill will fall through their letter boxes, yet another bill heaped on top of the taxes and charges already imposed, property tax, carbon taxes, and the universal social charge, which features large.

They are asking what they will get for the taxes they have already paid.  When the idea of water charges was first mooted, we were told it was all about conservation and, to cite the Taoiseach, fixing the inadequate and inferior water supply.  Many accept that water meters have a function in conservation.  People do not want to see waste, but there is a big difference between paying to wash one's car a couple of times a month and paying to wash one's children or flush the toilet.  That is where the free allowance is vital. Irish Water is stating that if people are prudent and use less water, it will be forced to increase its prices because it wants to maintain its income at a certain level.  It is clear that the sole purpose of this initiative is to create a tax that will provide more income for the Government which can be pumped into the black hole of the national debt and, effectively, turn citizens into consumers. The conservation issue has largely been lost. A figure of €537 million has been suggested for the Government subvention.  This subvention is from the people's taxes.  The Government did not pluck the figure out of thin air.  Will the subvention be at or above this level in 2015 and 2016?  If it is not, we will face a situation where decreasing subventions mean ever increasing bills.  Will the funding for the standing charge be additional to the subvention of €537 million or will it be included in the total?  If it is included, it will simply transfer into the cost per litre of water.

Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour)
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It is welcome that Deputy Catherine Murphy agrees that metering water is the way to proceed.  It is a way of ensuring water is conserved and it provides a means by which people can reduce their water bills.  Many of the issues the Deputy raised are being considered by the Government.  In regard to families, I agree that there is a difference between using water to wash the car and using it to wash the children.  This should be reflected in the regime which is put in place.  We need certainty, in so far as we can have it, about the years ahead.  I have heard suggestions the water charges will be a certain amount this year and that they will be double or triple that amount next year or the following year.  Families should not be put in such a position.

Joe Higgins (Dublin West, Socialist Party)
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That is the policy - full cost recovery.

Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour)
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No, that was Fianna Fáil's policy.  

Barry Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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The Government has not guaranteed a subvention for more than two years.

Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour)
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Fianna Fáil in its programme for Government committed to full cost recovery.

Billy Kelleher (Cork North Central, Fianna Fail)
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Your policy was no water charges.

Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour)
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That is not what we are pursuing for.

Billy Kelleher (Cork North Central, Fianna Fail)
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We need to pursue consistency around here.

Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour)
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The proposal for a standing charge is one we have to address.  The discussions we are having- this is well known - pertain to the free allowance, the question of a standing charge, the arrangements for metering and the arrangements that would give rise to differences for people who use water to wash their cars, as distinct from those who require water for their children or to meet medical needs.  I am confident that we will be able to arrive at a formula which is fair, reasonable, clear to the public and in respect of which the public can have certainty.

Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Independent)
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The Tánaiste's thinking appears to have shifted fundamentally.  Six months after the last local elections, he approached the matter from the citizen's perspective, but he is now approaching it from that of the utilities.  In October 2009 he stated the following about water charges: "One concern with this proposal is that we could be informed in six or 12 months time that the cost of metering is very high, that there are practical difficulties associated with the allowance and that the Government would go ahead with the introduction of a flat water charge."  It is now estimated that 75% will be subject to a flat charge.  Where has the concern the Tánaiste so clearly expressed in 2009 gone?  In 2010 the Taoiseach - I am quoting-----

Seán Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, Ceann Comhairle)
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Please do not quote; this is Question Time.

Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Independent)
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He stated: "The system of flat rate water charges is unfair, inequitable and not environmentally sound because one ends up with a situation whereby the poor pay the same as the rich. Fine Gael will oppose a flat rate water charge." I fail to see the reason for the delay in reaching a decision. The Taoiseach and the Tánaiste are not fighting each other, if that is the perspective from which they come.

Seán Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, Ceann Comhairle)
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I ask the Deputy to put her question.

Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Independent)
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My question stems from something the Tánaiste said in 2009 and I am quoting again-----

Seán Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, Ceann Comhairle)
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The Deputy will not be quoting because she is over her time.

Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Independent)
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He asked the then Taoiseach: "Will the Taoiseach give the House an assurance that there will not be a flat water charge and that this will not be progressed until the metering is done, the allowances are set and a waiver system is put in place?"

Seán Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, Ceann Comhairle)
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Will the Deputy, please, put her question?

Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Independent)
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Why did the Tánaiste seek that assurance when he now appears to be doing exactly what he feared?  What has changed?

Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)
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It is the kind of thing one does during an election.

Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour)
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I have not changed.  I do not agree with having a flat charge.

Finian McGrath (Dublin North Central, Independent)
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The Tánaiste did a U-turn.

Pat Rabbitte (Dublin South West, Labour)
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The Deputy is worried about consistency.

Billy Kelleher (Cork North Central, Fianna Fail)
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At one time the Tánaiste did not agree with water charges.

Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour)
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I did not agree with having flat charges then and I do not agree with having them now.  I clearly stated we needed a system based on the availability of a free allowance.  Such a free allowance needs to be constructed in a way that takes account of the circumstances of different families.  Clearly, families have particular needs where there are children or medical issues and the allowance needs to reflect this.  Charging should be on a metered basis in order that it encourages the conservation of water and enables families and households to reduce water bills by conserving water.  Let us be clear: both then and now I did not and do not support having a flat charge.