It is outrageous for Senator Ivana Bacik and the Labour Party to claim that the water tax is fair. It is anything but fair. The vast majority who will have to pay the water tax will see it as unfair. In spite of all the so-called concessions to Deputy Eamon Gilmore and other Labour Party members, the average cost per household for water tax will be €240. That same Government recently introduced the property tax, where the average cost is €316, bringing the combined new charges on ordinary householders to an average of €560 per annum, yet the charges are not based on an assessment of income.

It is less than in Northern Ireland.

Yes, less than the charge in Northern Ireland.

If the Senators wish to have a debate on the North of Ireland on any aspect of what happens in the North, let us have that debate. We have called for such a debate on several occasions but the Leader has not arranged it. We would be very comfortable with having that debate with anybody. We are discussing what the Government is doing in this state.

The new charges will come to some €560 and let me remind the Labour Party that those charges are not based on income or ability to pay. It seems clear that the Labour Party has abandoned the principle of progressive taxation. These two measures are about raising revenue for national finances. None of the money that is being raised is going towards local services. We all know in our individual constituencies that the local authority's budgets have been slashed year after year. This is about raising revenue to plug the hole in the national finances. If that is what this is about there are fairer ways to achieve it, such as by having fair and progressive taxation. I will table an amendment to the Order of Business, calling on the Minister or Minister of State from the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government to come to the House. We spent nearly 16 hours debating the Water Services Bill. It has taken up to now for the Government to tell the people what they will pay for water. Let me remind people outside this House that after 2015, Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and Labour Party councillors will have the power to increase the property tax, which they will do and after 2016 they will have the power to increase water charges.

Is the Senator proposing an amendment to the Order of Business?

I think people will understand that clearly when they go to the polls in two weeks. They will be very conscious of the people who brought in those charges and the impact that those charges are having on ordinary working families across the State.

Is the Senator proposing an amendment to the Order of Business?

I propose an amendment to the Order of Business that either the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government, Deputy Phil Hogan, or the Minister of State at the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government, Deputy Fergus O'Dowd, come to the House to discuss the Cabinet decision to set the charging mechanism for water.