Burton fails to confirm €200 water charges for family of four

Tánaiste Joan Burton has not confirmed the remarks she made earlier this week that a family of four adults would pay less than €200 a year in water charges.

Instead, she said in the Dáil her objective and that of the Government was to have a charging regime that is “affordable and where there is clarity and where there is certainty in relation to the pricing structure”.

Ms Burton was responding to Fianna Fáil's Timmy Dooley who said the Taoiseach had said the Tánaiste was expressing a personal view when she suggested the charge for four adults would be €200.

He had asked her: “It is now your professional view that €200 will now be the charge for a family of two adults and two adult children.”

She said: “I believe very solid, very good progress has been made in relation to Irish Water”.

But Sinn Féin deputy leader Mary Lou McDonald said the only progress report people wanted to hear was that the Government was going to abolish Irish Water “no ifs, no buts, no bribes, no threats”.

There were heated and cutting exchanges as Ms Burton accused the Sinn Féin leadership of living an ordinary life in Ireland but the “high life” in the US, when Ms McDonald challenged her about the water charges.

Ms Burton pointed to the fundraising dinner that party leader Gerry Adams would attend tonight in New York at $500 (€403) a head. She said that was much more than what an ordinary family would pay for water charges in a year.

When she said she did not know what class Mr Adams travelled, Sinn Féin's Dessie Ellis said she should "pick up your iPhone and phone him".

Ms Burton said Mr Adams was a regular visitor to the US and received his health treatment there and “does not use our system”.

The Tánaiste also hit out at Sinn Féin changing its mind from agreeing to pay the water charges to then opposing them.

But Ms McDonald hit back and accused her of making a “pathetic” comedic effort which would cut no ice with the public who could not pay.

She added that the Tánaiste’s “slagging” of her party or anyone else was merely an attempt to distract from the central issue of water charges.

Ms McDonald said she lived in the real world and while she was not in the position of not affording to pay for water “I represent countless people who aren’t able to pay”.