Gerry Adams criticises Fianna Fáil over Irish Water

Sinn Féin leader Gerry Adams has said Fianna Fáil would be "off the hook" on the issue of water charges if it allowed a vote in the Dáil on a motion to abolish Irish Water.

Mr Adams said on Tuesday night that a motion to abolish Irish Water had been signed by 39 TDs and should be subject to a vote.

He criticised Fianna Fáil in particular for having “frustrated and blocked” efforts to allow the issue be voted on in the Dáíl and said the majority of TDs backed a vote.

"I guess what has happened because of public pressure and people being increasingly annoyed at what is going on, these two parties [Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil] have contrived to push this up the road.

“They may even have agreed to a commission to deal with it at some point.

“All we want is the right [to vote], and if we lose the vote, that’s fair enough.

“To be denied the opportunity to put the motion and argue the motion and vote on it runs against the mandate that people have been given,” he said.

Meeting

Mr Adams was speaking as the meeting between Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil negotiators over Government formation continued in Trinity College Dublin on Tuesday night, having started at about 4.30pm.

Mr Adams said that the Fianna Fáil position on the suspension of water charges ran against the position of Sinn Féin.

When asked did he think the two largest parties may strike a deal that would allow the formation of a Fine Gael-led minority government, he said: “My honest answer to that is I don’t know, and they don’t know either.

“I bumped into Micheál Martin [just now] and said to him that this motion be voted on tomorrow.

“If he wanted [to be] off the hook [on water charges] and if a majority of the Dáil voted for it, then that’s him off the hook. It would be a done deal, It’s done and dusted.”