Sinn Féin water policy to land taxpayers with €550m bill — O’Donovan

Fine Gael TD for Limerick, Patrick O’Donovan has said that Sinn Féin are again misleading the Irish people about water charges, after Pearse Doherty, today (Wednesday), failed to provide clarity on how they will pay for their proposal to reverse the charges.

“ Obviously under pressure from the political left, Sinn Féin’s latest reckless economic proposition to abolish water charges would have a devastating effect on the national finances. By abandoning domestic water charges, Irish Water would no longer be considered a commercial semi state company and all investment by Irish Water would be landed back with the taxpayer. Sinn Féin have accounted for €300 million that would be generated from domestic water charges but they have failed to account for €550 million associated with upgrading out deficient water system and establishing Irish Water, which they support.

“Sinn Féin released their new policy on water charges last week but unfortunately the detail to back it up is not deemed as important. Sinn Féin owe it to people to make their position clear and back it up with appropriate detail.

“Meanwhile, Fianna Fáil are yet to release their pre-budget submission. Both parties clearly have no intent of contributing constructively to economic policy. They are cynically publishing their pre-budget proposals at the last minute to make it impossible for them to be considered seriously ahead of a budget due in six days.”