In November 2009 the Fine Gael Party published the NewERA document and the then Deputy Simon Coveney was responsible for developing the policy framework. Many people worked with him and the document was especially relevant to the establishment of Irish Water because it said Fine Gael would bring all of Ireland's water assets under the ownership of one State company. Even in 2009 that company was named as Irish Water and local authorities were to be its agents. Before the troika, this was a clear policy of Fine Gael's.

Deputy Fergus O'Dowd was the Minister of State responsible for the legislation that introduced Irish Water on a statutory basis and he said today that the company is an unmitigated disaster, that it has abjectly failed and that it is arrogant and uncaring. He said low income groups are paying too much, that bands should be widened and that ability to pay should be a factor. In particular, he said unemployed people are being crucified by the charge. He said people are angry and intimidated by the sign-up packs that have been distributed and by requests for PPS numbers. He said there is an intense dislike for the process. The Taoiseach is quite good at understatement and he interpreted all of this as Deputy O'Dowd merely making a point that there is a need for better communications and more engagement with the community. I suggest that the Deputy said far more than that and got to the heart of the issue. Does the Taoiseach agree with what Deputy O'Dowd said regarding Irish Water? Does he feel it has been an unmitigated disaster and an abject failure? Does the Taoiseach consider that an ability to pay concept should be central to the water charges regime implemented by Irish Water?

Will the Taoiseach take steps to ensure the poverty analysis referenced by Deputy O'Dowd this morning on "Morning Ireland" to determine the impact of all this on low-income groups will be published in order that we can all read it?

The Taoiseach is sorry now he appointed him.

He is sorry he dropped him.

I do not agree with Deputy O'Dowd's comment that Irish Water is an unmitigated disaster. I agree Irish Water certainly had teething problems during the course of its being set up. I also agree Irish Water is here to stay. It is a fundamental concept and it is an entity to deal with the situation which was allowed to develop over many years whereby we pay €1.2 billion to produce water, 40% of which leaks away, where many dozens of treatment plans are inferior, where many kilometres of pipe work are not fit for purpose, and where 20,000 people must live regularly with boil water notices. Deputy Martin is well aware this can only be achieved by having an entity that can borrow money to invest in this off the State payroll, as it were, to provide for the future, business, people and consumers.

Water is a very precious commodity. Given our geography and location we are blessed with an abundant supply of water. The situation which had pertained for so many years could not continue. I am the first to say that Irish Water had teething problems when it was being set up, and everyone understands that. There is always a need for clearer communication about the issues involved, who pays what and how one can pay. The Government has set out a number of policy directions to the regulator, which include the average metered water charge, the allowance per household and the allowance per child. This has been followed by other announcements in respect of facilities and further contributions for those who receive the household package and those who have particular medical ailments who might require a lot of water whereby the charge is capped. I do not accept the Deputy's assertion.

Which Deputy?

There are a lot of them.

Irish Water is here to stay. It is a fundamentally important State agency held in public ownership for the development for the good of the country, unlike the situation, I might add, whereby Deputy Martin supported the Irish Water concept but had an average charge of €400 with no allowances.

This is your charge.

In other words, the Deputy is a little bit like St. Augustine in that he wants it but not just now.

The Taoiseach is digging.

It is a bit like the Taoiseach with McNulty. He wanted him now but not yet.

Irish Water is here to stay. The Government will move on a number of other proposals for the amalgamation of Bord Gáis and Irish Water into Ervia, with appropriate competency to run what is one of the largest entities since the foundation of the State, the fundamentally important issue of water for personal, social and economic reasons and the development of our nation as a place fit to invest in and fit to live in by having quality water at its core.

It will be the Taoiseach's Waterloo but he cannot see it.

That is why the Government had a Waterford councillor on the board.

I ask Deputy Martin to ask his friend beside him to stay quiet and let Deputy Martin get on with his question. I cannot control him but perhaps Deputy Martin can.

Welcome back, a Cheann Comhairle.

Thank you.

I love the Taoiseach's sense of the English language. When a former Minister of State says something is an unmitigated disaster and abject failure and uses phrases such as "intense dislike of the whole process" and states people feel angry and intimidated, the Taoiseach says yes, it had teething problems. These are not teething problems. There is utter confusion about health. People with all sorts of ailments simply do not know where they stand now with regard to water. I respectfully suggest to the Taoiseach that families with two or three adult children, as they are termed, namely, those who are over 18 and in full-time education or unemployed, face bills of between €500 and €590 with no mitigation and nothing to alleviate the impact.

Disgraceful.

This is excessive by any stretch of the imagination on a particular type of family.

A question, please.

Deputy O'Dowd correctly pointed to the unemployed and low-paid workers. The household benefits package does not cover any of these. The charges are excessive and he is correct in his analysis. He stated a poverty analysis was done in the Department but we have not seen it.

I ask Deputy Martin to put his question.

Everybody knows consumption taxes such as these are regressive and will disproportionately hit people on low incomes. I have put this question to the Tánaiste, Deputy Burton, but it was water off a duck's back and did not have any impact. I thought it might have had. The bottom line is there are fundamental issues which have gone wrong. At least Deputy O'Dowd is honest now that he has left office. He now states what he believes and perhaps he felt he could not say it when he was in office. The Taoiseach should take heed of it and he should not dismiss it as lightly as he does.

Will Deputy Martin support the boycott?

I am not dismissing it. I have admitted that obviously there were teething problems in the setting up of Irish water. The former Deputy O'Dowd was the Minister of State who dealt with setting it up.

He is still a Deputy.

He dealt with NewERA and piloted the Bill through the House. Perhaps if some of these issues had been brought to his attention then-----

They were.

It looks like he brought them to everybody else's attention at the time but no one listened.

-----he might have been able to change them before it went through. The water regulator has determined the average bill will be less than €240 per year.

When did he determine this?

At the Cabinet meeting this morning?

He further confirmed that 80% of all bills will be less than €24 per month.

The Taoiseach is digging.

We also welcome the fact the regulator has adhered to the Government direction that there be a free allowance of 30,000 litres per household for water usage and an allowance for every child under 18. I have said to the Deputy before that a person living alone will have approximately 40% of his or her water needs provided by the allowance and will pay approximately €138 per annum or less than 50 cent per day. All 411,000 recipients of the household benefits package, who are pensioners, carers and disability recipients, will receive an additional €100 per year to assist with water costs. Charges will be capped for people with particular medical ailments. People on boil water notices will not have to pay for their water supply after 24 hours until the notices are lifted.

They will.

These reforms are essential for future provision of quality water services following the debacle that went on for years.

In respect of the pay situation, the regulator has ordered and instructed Irish Water to reduce its cost base by €170 million, or 8%, by 2016 which includes a substantial element of the pay situation.

Consultants.

Not the bonuses.

The Taoiseach is making it up as he goes along.

The former Minister of State the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government, Deputy Fergus O'Dowd, established Uisce Éireann on behalf of the Government. These are his words and not mine or those of an Teachta Martin. Deputy O'Dowd pointed out it has become "another cosseted quango with a bonus culture". This is what he said. An cuma atá ar an scéal seo anois ná go bhfuil uisce faoi thalamh agus nach bhfuil cúrsaí soiléir agus oscailte. He stated he simply could not believe when he heard last January that bonuses were to be paid to Uisce Éireann staff, and he recommended they be scrapped. He stated he made the point at every high-level meeting that disadvantaged groups should not suffer an unfair burden. He stated he was ignored. He also stated he raised these issues with the Taoiseach. He stated the exemptions are not wide enough and appealed to the Taoiseach to look again at the support services available. These remarks are not those of the leader of Sinn Féin nor of a Teachta Dála ó Shinn Féin. Seo iar-Aire Stáit ag caint, an fear a chur an dlí os comhair na Dála. It is an example of dysfunctionality at the heart of the Government.

I have a number of ceisteanna. Does the Taoiseach agree with former Minister of State, Deputy O'Dowd, on these specific questions? Does he accept that Irish Water-Uisce Éireann is not working? Will he scrap the bonuses? Will he acknowledge that many households simply cannot afford to pay the Government's water tax? Will he abolish this water charge as the former Minister of State indicated?

I thought Deputy Adams was coming here to tell us why he did not submit his budget proposition today. I thought he was coming here to explain to the nation why Sinn Féin suddenly decided water charges for residential households should be scrapped.

The one thing the Deputy forgot with all his information was that by so doing in the way he proposes, it goes back on to the public pay bill at a cost of an extra €850 million. I would like to know how he proposes to raise this money in addition to all the-----

These are Leaders' Questions.

-----extra money with the scrapping of-----

The general election has not happened yet.

Please-----

I know it is very easy to-----

The Taoiseach needs his head examined; he does not know where he is.

Would you settle down?

-----knock on the doors and say, "We're opposed to water charges". This is the usual Sinn Féin stock; it is also opposed to property charges. In respect of water, it had better revise its budget submissions because it will cost an extra €850 million. What will it do for USC, income tax, PRSI and so on?

No bonuses have been paid to anyone in Irish Water and the chief executive will not be paid a bonus. Irish Water does not have a policy of pay increments and has a pay freeze until 2016.

Performance-related pay.

As I said to Deputy Martin, the regulator has instructed that it reduce its costs by €170 million, some 8%, between now and 2016.

I do not share Deputy O'Dowd's view about Irish Water. I have to admit there certainly were teething problems, both in respect of the perception of the spend on this and the breakdown of that detail, and the inability in many cases to communicate the message very clearly in the beginning. That is all changing. Government will continue to roll out proposals to make Irish Water a really important fundamental State entity, held in public ownership, to deal with the inadequacy of the water infrastructure we have had for many years.

Deputy Adams knows this. Does he want the people in this city and its greater region to be on a knife's edge from day to day in respect of water supply and water facilities? The Deputy saw what happened when we had the virus at Ballymore Eustice and hundreds of thousands of people with an inadequate water supply had to turn off the taps at night because of that situation. The Deputy is now saying they do not have to pay for anything, it is only a cost of €850 million-----

No, we have paid already. We are paying every day.

-----and they will find it from the rich or something like that.

How does the Taoiseach think we have water at home?

I am disappointed that the Deputy did not come in with his party's budget today and I am even further disappointed that there is no mention that there is a charge of €850 million involved in that.

No bonuses were paid, and no bonus will be paid to the chief executive. There is a pay freeze until 2016 and the regulator has requested a €179 million reduction in its cost base, which includes a substantial element of the pay involved.

And no jobs for the boys.

Would the Deputy mind allowing Deputy Adams to ask a supplementary question?

It is very important to have a sense of humour when coming in here to ask questions. Flann O'Brien could not have written the script the Taoiseach articulates from day to day. I do not think he gets it at all. There are people who just cannot afford an additional tax on top of all the other taxes the Government has imposed on them.

He just cannot come in here and say he disagrees with an Teachta O'Dowd; the Taoiseach appointed him to the job. He made these points not in an off-the-cuff interview, but in a scripted article, so I presume he considered what he was saying. He made a series of criticisms of how Uisce Éireann is being operated. More importantly, he said that he raised these questions with the Taoiseach. Is this again what we have seen with the Minister, Deputy Reilly, and the former Minister, Deputy Shatter? Is this the way the Government does its business?

I will put, if I may, the questions to the Taoiseach again. I am very mindful, by the way, that this was a Fianna Fáil proposition, but the Government is going ahead with it. Does the Taoiseach acknowledge that many households simply cannot afford to pay the water tax? I seek a simple "Yes" or "No". Will the Government give struggling families and hard-pressed citizens a break by abolishing the tax? Will it turn off this water tax for the sake of citizens?

I will ensure that the Taoiseach has an off-the-top-of-the-press copy of Sinn Féin's budget.

Off the top of the HP.

I commend it to the Taoiseach.

I thank the Deputy.

Aengus is into the printing again.

It has a word in it that is writ large through every single line and that word is "equality", a word that is alien to the Taoiseach and his backbenchers. I ask the Taoiseach to turn off the water tax.

I point out to the Deputy that we are all the same across the country. People in rural areas have been paying water charges for years. Many people pay privately for pumps, chemicals and treatment for their own water supplies. Those on thousands of group water schemes have contributed every year for water and they never ask the question because they know it is important. The Deputy comes along and says that people should not have to pay and he does so for particular political purposes - specifically because there are a couple of by-elections.

I never mentioned by-elections.

The Government wants to be fair, equitable and affordable. The Government, of course, recognises that any charge has to be an imposition on people, but this charge is a necessary contribution as we set out to develop a proper water infrastructure for the country. That is why the Government has set policy directions for the regulator in terms of the average metered water charge, the household allowance, the child allowance and the knowledge that people have particular medical ailments that require lots of water. That is why there is an extra €100 for the household benefit for disabled people, carers and those who live alone as pensioners. The intention is to have everybody enabled to make a contribution that is fair, affordable and equitable.

We are paying for it already. What is wrong with the Taoiseach?

All of that means that many hundreds of thousands of people will benefit as a consequence of having better water and not having to live under boil-water notices. Businesses will know that the water supply they have is not on a 98% knife-edge all the time. It will allow us to be a country that can continue to be attractive for investment, attractive for the location of industry and jobs throughout the country. Consumers, ordinary people, businesses and big industry will be able to have a proper supply of high quality and high volume water for its needs. That is why Irish Water is being set up. That is why it is an important entity and why the Government supports it and will continue to bring in proposals, including competencies, on the new Ervia entity to run Irish Water which is one of the largest infrastructure developmental projects since the foundation of the State.