Fianna Fáil TD Willie O’Dea has said Fine Gael are “perversely addicted to Irish Water” and their position is “like a political version of Custer’s Last Stand”.
He said that Fianna Fáil did not make water a deal breaker in the government formation talks. “Fine Gael made it a deal breaker,” he said.
Speaking on RTÉ’s Morning Ireland he said that there was broad agreement on issues such as health, housing and homelessness.
He said: “Fine Gael decided to dig in on water charges, not recognising the fact that they’ve lost that argument with the public, not recognising that the vast majority of people utterly reject the present system and failing to recognise that the majority of TDs elected to Dáil Éireann were elected to change the system.
“Nobody can stand over the present charging system in Irish Water, it is utterly regressive. No one can stand over Irish Water as it is structured, there is no answerability, they have the power and the right to do what they like, hire who they like, pay bonuses, employing high powered lawyers to give favourable advice - engage high powered PR consultants.”
He said the situation must change. He said Fianna Fáil “promised to tackle this issue “ and are “bound to do what we can”.
“We can’t fulfil this completely because we didn’t win the majority of seats in the Dáil,” he said.
He said: “We didn’t find any level of disagreement on housing, homelessness or health. The only level of disagreement was on water.”
Talks to resume
Talks will continue on Friday between the two parties. Fianna Fáil is seeking a 15 per cent increase in rent supplement. It is understood Fine Gael has been advised against this by the Department of Social Protection.
However, Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael are expected to sign off on their deal on Friday, with Independent TDs then expected to meet Fine Gael for negotiations.
Tensions remained between the sides on Thursday night over comments by Minister for Health Leo Varadkar that suspending water charges was not in the public interest.
Meanwhile, a commission to examine pay levels across the public sector, including for new entrants, is proposed in the agreement to facilitate a Fine Gael-led minority government.
The commission, to be established within six months, is cast by sources as a mechanism for preventing strikes across the public sector, which would have the potential to cripple a minority government reliant on opposition co-operation.
The draft written agreement between the two parties is understood to focus on the mechanics of how a minority government would work. It is understood to contain about 30 bullet points dealing with broad policy areas.
On the economy, the agreement commits to dividing the so-called fiscal space - the possible future resources available to the government - on a 2:1 ratio between spending increases and tax cuts.
Minister for Finance Michael Noonan this week said the amount of money available next year for new tax and spending commitments is about €900 million, €400 million more than had been estimated during the general election.
