Harney must show honesty, says Owen

THE Minister for Justice, Mrs Owen has challenged Ms Mary Harney to show "honesty and humility" by admitting she knowingly made false claims against the Government on water charges.

In a strong attack on the PD leader, Mrs Owen accused her of attempting to smear the Government with wildly deceptive claims of hypocrisy. "How can she explain her full support of Bobby Molloy's £23 million bid on rural water charges only a few weeks before her ideological nothing in life is free flip flop?" she asked.

Anyone making an objective analysis of Ms Harney's stance on the EU directive on water charges and meters would be forced to conclude that it was bogus and phoney, the Minister stated.

"The mask finally slipped from Ms Harney's face when she accused the Government of deception, knowing full well that formal opposition to the draft EU directive had been stated publicly by Minister Brendan Howlin last March," she added.

Mrs Owen said that, in an interview on Radio Ireland, without even the slightest twinge of shame, Ms Harney compounded the issue by accusing Mr Howlin of having never previously mentioned the EU draft directive in public.

"If she has any real honesty and humility, she will publicly admit that she accused Minister Howlin and this Government in the wrong", Mrs Owen said.

Meanwhile, the PD spokesman on Finance, Mr Michael McDowell, said that the Government's election bribe on water charges would have the same net effect on the Exchequer every year for the next 10 years as an additional 2p, in the pound on the 48 per cent rate of income tax. Dumping the cost of water all over Ireland onto the payslip of the PAYE worker was economic madness, he stated.