When I asked the Taoiseach a number of questions yesterday about Irish Water, following Deputy Fergus O'Dowd's comments that it has been an unmitigated disaster, an abject failure and much more, the Taoiseach responded that, in his view, Deputy O'Dowd was simply saying it had teething problems. That response illustrated how out of touch the Taoiseach is with the situation on the ground and with people's attitudes. Deputy O'Dowd was certainly right in saying there is an intense dislike of the entire process and that people feel angry and intimidated.

The fundamental aspect that is absent from the water rates regime that is being introduced via Irish Water and via the regulator is the ability to pay principle. Deputy O'Dowd said yesterday that as Minister of State, he pleaded with his senior Minister and with other Government members that there be exemptions for disadvantaged groups including, in particular, the unemployed. There is absolutely no protection under this regime for the more than 370,000 people on the live register. The households benefits package does not include those who are out of work. Second, there is no protection for low-income earners, of whom we have the second highest proportion in the OECD. Consumption taxes are by their nature regressive, but nothing has been built into this charging regime to protect low-income workers, one in five of whom, we are told, are earning below the living wage. Third, we have families with three, four and five adults who will face very significant bills. The estimated charge is €380 for a three-adult family, €482 for a four-adult household, and €584 where there are five adults in the home. We are talking here about dependent young people in full-time education or unemployed. Those families are being screwed by this regime. The estimates are extraordinarily high, with no mitigation whatsoever. To add insult to injury, those on boil water notices will receive a bill and will have to pay for the water-out element of the regime, notwithstanding the significant expenditure they have faced as a result of having to boil water.

Will the Taoiseach amend the legislation to enshrine at its heart an ability to pay clause? That would have an impact in terms of the intense dislike of the process to which Deputy O'Dowd referred and in terms of people feeling angry and intimidated.

Deputy Martin raised this issue yesterday. I notice that he has not yet submitted his budgetary proposals, in which I understand there is a €3.4 billion black hole.

The Taoiseach will not give us the costings.

Deputy Martin has some neck to come in here and say what he is saying. His party in government proposed the introduction of water charges at a minimum charge of €400 per household with no allowances.

That is not true.

It is true.

The Taoiseach, without interruption. Deputy Martin is well able to answer for himself.

Deputy Martin subsequently rejected that proposal and is now opposed to the introduction of water charges. If he were in Government, however, he would have to do it. There is a €3.4 billion hole in his party's budgetary estimates and he needs to explain what he proposes to do regarding the €4 billion adjustment he has objected to in recent years.

I remind Deputies on that side of the House that Deputy Martin is a big boy and does not need their help at all.

The country is coming out of a recession. I do not accept the comments from the former Minister of State who piloted the relevant Bill through the House that Irish Water is as he says. I do accept, as everybody does, that some of the issues that were raised in the initial stages of the establishment of Irish Water were not as they should be. Clearly, there was not the clarity of explanation and understanding given to people as to what this was about. What it is about is putting in place one of the largest and most fundamental entities in the history of our State to provide proper water structures and proper water quality for households, businesses and industry. Yes, there is a contribution to be made. Deputy Martin's colleagues in Sinn Féin do not want any domestic water charges and are putting it back on the public bill at a cost of €850 million in taxes or whatever without any explanation.

This issue must be dealt with. We cannot go on paying €1.2 billion per year for the production of water, with 40% of it leaking away, thousands of people on boil water notices, dozens of treatment works not up to standard and kilometres by the thousand of inferior pipe work. All of that has to be dealt with, and it never was dealt with because the Deputy and his party, for the main part, during its time in government over the past 25 years, did not deal with it. Irish Water will be able to borrow to invest and fix these problems, and a contribution is being asked of people. That is why the Government gave a direction to the regulator such that there would be an allowance per household and per child, with extra to be given for those living alone. The 340,000 people on the household benefits package will receive extra allowances, and those with particular medical needs will have a cap put on what they pay.

I recognise that any charge that is put on people is not easy to accept, but this is an issue that simply must be dealt with. As the Deputy well knows, in huge areas of the country people have been paying for water for 50 years, by way of regional water schemes and whatever else. Where water goes out, if it goes into a public sewer, that must be paid for because it has to be treated. If it goes into a septic tank for which there is a charge and a monitoring system, it will not have to be paid for because it does not go back into the public system. There are many multiples of thousands of households in that situation. It is not nice to have to pay a charge. It has not been easy for any member of the Government in the past three years to have to stand up and impose charges in order to get us out of the catastrophe in which the Deputy's party left us. I am glad to see that economic commentators are now projecting growth for this year and next of between 4.5% and 5% and in the following years in the mid-threes. These are positive things.

The Government will consider very carefully the question of the structure of payments, namely, how payments can be made and when they can be made. We must help people to understand that water is an absolutely essential commodity and something not to be wasted. As I said, 40% of it is leaking away every day. If the Deputy filled his oil tank in Cork every Monday only to find that 40% of it was gone by Wednesday, what would he say? He would say the problem must be fixed. Everybody can contribute to fixing the problems with our water supply, in one way or another. There are allowances built in for the categories of people who need them most.

Before I call Deputy Martin, I wish to point out that I get complaints into my office every day that the same people are causing a disturbance in the Chamber. If they think they are impressing the public, they are not. People know all about them. I ask those individuals to allow the Member who has the floor to speak.

It is typical of the Taoiseach that he never answers the questions he is asked in this House but instead makes false assertions and makes it up as he goes along. He is incorrect on a specific point. There never was a proposal for a €400 charge in any document produced by my party.

There was.

The central point I am trying to make, and which the Taoiseach deliberately refuses to deal with, was set out clearly by the previous Government in the EU-IMF agreement and the national recovery plan, namely, that water charges would be introduced on the basis of "ensuring that lower-income groups remain supported". The Taoiseach has not done that in the regime his Government is introducing. Deputy O'Dowd - who, as Minister of State, introduced the legislation - said as much yesterday.

I asked the Taoiseach about the situation for the 370,000 people who are out of work. The household benefits package does not cover the unemployed. Will he answer my question? Does he think the unemployed are in a position to afford these charges? Will he answer my question about the nearly €400 charge for a family with three adults, which may well include children in full-time education, with the additional costs that involves? That charge will be nearly €500 for a four-adult family. I am not making these figures up; they were given out by the regulator. It is incomprehensible to me that households on boil water notice should have to pay anything at all, given that their water is not fit for consumption.

That is the central point. The Nevin Economic Research Institute has done work on this, which we have read. We have done our research in order to be constructive. We believe those categories merit a substantive response and not the false assertions and the usual stuff the Taoiseach goes on with. Can the Taoiseach specifically speak to the unemployed in terms of water charges? Can he speak to the families with children over 18 years of age who are going to college or who are unemployed? Will he address the questions asked of him, because he has neglected them? In fairness to Deputy O'Dowd, out of office he has had the honesty to say that a poverty analysis was done by the Department but it has never been published. Why has it not been published? The Taoiseach rammed all this through the Dáil before last Christmas with no debate and when some of these issues-----

Sorry, Deputy, we are way over time. Thank you.

What about Deputy Martin's time in office?

The former Minister of State, Deputy O'Dowd, brought this Bill through the House with the specific Government direction to put in place Irish Water to deal with a situation that was neglected for years. We were one of the most inferior countries in terms of the quality and supply of water-----

That is not true.

-----with so many different systems. Deputy Martin comes into the House every week with a barrage. He, on behalf of his party, put forward a €400 charge with no allowances.

The Government set directions for the regulator-----

Sorry, would Deputies please stay quiet?

-----of an average charge of €240 per household, an allowance per household and an allowance per child. That means a person living alone will have 40% of his or her water needs provided by the allowance-----

I asked about the unemployed.

-----which means his or her average charge is approximately 50 cent per day. There are 411,000 recipients of the household benefits package, including pensioners, carers and those with a disability. They will receive an extra €100 per year to assist them.

Deputy Martin never wants to know about what he left behind. Some 18,000 people on public water supplies-----

No answers.

-----have a boil water notice or other restrictions in place. The Deputy left that situation behind him. The Environmental Protection Agency reports that remedial action is required on 16% of supplies for almost 1 million people, including large schemes, such as the Dublin city supply and the Cork city supply. They are badly in need of proper remedial treatment.

There are significant constraints in this city and the Deputy knows what happened in Ballymore Eustace last year put this city on the edge. I got many complaints from restaurant owners, business people and consumers, asking what we were doing about the water. There has never been enough money to invest in it and to fix it. Some 40% of water is leaking through pipes.

We have put in allowances for the different categories. Some 36% of water treatment plants do not meet the needs. Of course, it is not easy on any category, in particular on the unemployed and those with families. Children who are over 18 are treated as adults if they stay or work at home. That is a difficulty but everybody must make a contribution and the Government has tried to make this as fair, equitable and affordable as possible. It is about dealing with the problem which has been around for so long and which, like so many other issues, was swept under the carpet by Deputy Martin's Administration and those of his party.