Yesterday, the Minister for Finance, Deputy Noonan-----

The comedian.

Deputy Finian McGrath should give it a rest.

-----was asked to justify the imposition of water charges on citizens and families at a time when the Government beats its collective chest about a recovery. Yesterday he failed to answer that question. Of course, he is not here today; perhaps he is off wooing some unsuspecting cailín to waltz with him.

It will not be Deputy McDonald.

Today I will return to the issue.

Can we get back to Leaders' Questions, please?

It is all about taking business-class flights.

How can the Government talk about a neutral budget as it prepares to land this unjust tax on citizens and families? How is it neutral to land an additional bill on the doormat? How is it neutral to ask families who are just keeping their heads above water to pay yet another bill? Is it neutral to ask families, who are in financial distress and struggling to keep a roof over their heads, to pay for the water they use to wash, to cook and to live?

Is the Minister's own domestic water supply safe? The water in the taps of many people in County Roscommon is not, as I am sure he is aware as he traverses that county looking for people's votes in the by-election.

A total of €20 million was granted a year ago.

Sorry, Deputy.

Is it neutral to demand a water charge from families who have contaminated water in their taps?

As the Minister for Finance, Deputy Noonan, pointed out, the recovery Ireland is enjoying has not happened by accident. It has happened because the Government made certain choices, one of which was to broaden the tax base in order that it would not be taxing employment. That had been advised by everyone who has examined the challenge of an economy like Ireland's and we are getting the result from the difficult choices we have made. There are now 70,000 more people at work than when the Government started the Action Plan for Jobs process. As for the prosperity one is starting to see regenerate in the economy, the Deputy's party has opposed every single measure.

Hear, hear.

It has opposed everything. Its proposals would have spent our capital fund, that is, the National Pensions Reserve Fund, in the very first couple of years.

The Government itself has spent most of it.

It would have been blown by now. The Government is now using those resources to fund small and medium-sized enterprises and to fund enterprise growth.

I will turn to the issue of why there must be charges in the area of water. Ireland has struggled with years of underinvestment in the water system. That is the reality and here, in my own city, we are on a knife edge.

Who is responsible for that?

As the Deputy rightly points out, many parts of the country do not have an adequate water supply. As nearly 40% of that water is leaking away, it is necessary to invest in a modern 21st-century water system to deliver for jobs, families and everyone. This must be done through charges to generate the revenue to make the investment. The Government's approach has been to establish a State company that will roll out that investment. This was a choice the Government made, which the Deputy opposed. However, it is the right choice. Every country in the world regards water as an important resource in which one must invest and that one must manage properly, which is what the Government is doing. However, the Government also has built into that system genuine reliefs for people who are in difficulty. Those who are in receipt of the household benefit package will get €100 in relief taken from their bill, children who qualify for child benefit will get a free allowance and people with medical conditions will have their payments capped. Consequently, the Government has rolled out a system that is fair but correct. It is the right approach that needs to be taken and we must embed the recovery to be able to enjoy the fruits of the sacrifices people have been obliged to make in recent years.

The ironic thing is that as the Minister lauds the sacrifices of families across the State, the Government comes back to those same people and seeks more. I asked the Minister to identify how it is neutral for a family that is under financial pressure to burden them with an additional bill. Moreover, it is not any kind of bill but one that relates to something as basic and fundamental as water. The Minister of course has not answered that question because he cannot. He knows, as do I, that it is farcical to talk about a recovery or a neutral budget when one makes such a demand of families. In the real world, people right across the State await the pronouncement of the regulator to find out just how much they will be obliged to pay.

A question please.

These same families can tell the Minister, as they have told me, that they will not be in a position to meet this bill. They do not regard it as progressive or fair. They do not feel it as a sign of recovery but will experience it as yet another imposition on them, that is, on they very population which at this stage has endured years of austerity and cuts.

Thank you, we are over time.

How on Earth is this a neutral position to take? Could it simply be-----

Sorry Deputy, you are over time. Please resume your seat.

----- that the neutral budget rhetoric is simply camouflage for more pain on low and middle-income families-----

It will come from Sinn Féin's magic pot of gold.

-----the same families the Government has targeted throughout its entire time in office?

Do not fly business class to Australia.

Allow the Minister to reply. The Deputy might be a Minister some day if he keeps the head.

The reality is that the Deputy's own party announced that it would cut off all the lending lines to the troika and would make the budgetary adjustments all in one year. Sinn Féin was going to lay aside a whole swathe of public services. It was going to push up taxes and would have destroyed the economy with such an approach.

Nonsense.

That is the reality of the approach Sinn Féin adopted.

Not at all.

The Government instead has adopted a prudent approach, which now is seeing the benefits. As the Deputy rightly states, the Government will not be obliged to impose any new taxes in the forthcoming budget.

It is imposing water charges, not taxes.

It will not be obliged to impose any net spending decreases and has reached a position where it now is moving out of the period of difficult adjustment. Moreover, we are seeing the fruits of this in employment growth. This is how one spreads the benefits. This is how one reduces poverty in the country, by addressing those employment needs.

Hear, hear.

By charging people for water.

Of course the Government recognises that people do not like to be obliged to pay for a charge which they were not obliged to pay previously.

They cannot afford to pay.

However, as I set out in my earlier reply, this is absolutely a correct way to manage and expensive resource in which there has been years of under-investment.

The pipes are still leaking after three and a half years.

It costs €1.2 billion to deliver water and the thought that 40% of that is being wasted is an appalling vista. It is necessary to make the investment, which is what Irish Water will do. It has a rolling programme of €1.8 billion investment in the water system-----

Roll it out.

-----that will upgrade the supply and make it fit for the 21st century to create employment and to support families. This is the choice the Government made and it is one over which it absolutely can stand. It will manage this resource in a more efficient way and will allow resources to drive employment growth.