Politics

Irish Water needs to be abolished in least damaging way, says Murphy

Pat Rabbitte says new government will be ‘pulled down’ by Fianna Fáil

One authority for water that would look at the technical aspects and ‘recognise reality’ would be preferable, Ms Murphy said. Photograph: Cyril Byrne/The Irish Times
Vivienne Clarke
Mon Apr 18 2016 - 10:52

The new Government will need to find the least damaging way to abolish water, says Social Democrat TD Catherine Murphy.

One authority that would look at the technical aspects and "recognise reality" would be preferable, Ms Murphy told RTÉ's Morning Ireland.

"A strategic approach is needed with regard to upgrading and maintaining the water system. That would be about abolishing Irish Water, not going back to the old county council system."

Ms Murphy also said there had been a shift in power from the Government to the Dáil following the election and the rules are being written to reflect that under the proposed Dáil reform.

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“The rules will mean a changed environment in the Dáil. It will mean 158 TDs can participate in government not just 15 members of Cabinet,” she said.

“There will be a transfer of influence and power. We can play a more productive role from the opposition benches.”

Meanwhile, Limerick Fianna Fáil TD Willie O’Dea said his party will have to maintain its position on Irish Water during negotiations on supporting a minority government.

“We will have to maintain our position on Irish Water. I got a lot of votes on the basis of that position,” he told Newstalk Breakfast.

“We’re trying very hard to get a government in place. The era of political fragmentation has arrived and the rules of the Dáil are being changed now to reflect that.

“It will be very interesting to see how a minority government will operate.”

He said that he thought the general principles of approach will be written down, but he didn’t think there was going to be a detailed policy formula for every possible area of policy the two parties will be working on.

“You can’t anticipate every future situation. If you were to go into the gory details of every possible policy - health, housing, you would literally have to have a Book of Kells.

“Now that the Dáil will have much more influence on policy, a policy document that might anticipate what the Dáil will do would be wrong,” said Mr O’Dea. “A strong set of principles would be good.”

On the issue of Irish Water, he said the vast majority of people had passed ‘a damning verdict’ on Irish Water, “people are unhappy and want it changed.

“We are conscious how the majority of people feel about Irish Water and the practice of charging for water without any regard for ability to pay, it’s a very aggressive form of taxation.”

He added that the government will have to get away from politics where people make demands for their own constituencies. That’s the wrong way to run a country.”

Former Labour leader Pat Rabbitte says that the new government is going to be “pulled down” by Fianna Fáil at the first opportunity.

“Fianna Fáil are getting away with make believe that they want a government to come into existence,” he said on RTÉ’s Sean O’Rourke Show.

He added that he felt Labour should stay in opposition to get measures through.

It was not a recipe for good government if Fine Gael would have “to go on their knees” for Fianna Fáil support for specific measures, said Mr Rabbitte.