'Populist' Fianna Fail letting down rural supporters says Burke

Fianna Fail's stance on water charges is "populist", "opportunistic" and "extremely disappointing for many of their supporters who have been paying for water for years".

That's according to Deputy Peter Burke who says that he is "baffled" by Fianna Fail's decision to align it self with Sinn Feinn and the AAA PBP.

“The whole farce around water which has occurred this week has highlighted that Fianna Fáil are becoming more and more populist by the week. They chose to align themselves with the hard left and Sinn Féin purely with the next election in mind, and have totally abandoned their rural and working class base.

“Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael agreed on draft terms last week, but when it came to publishing the report on water charges, Fianna Fáil had changed their position on a number of important issues and have adopted the same stance as the AAA PBP and Sinn Féin. They now want no water metres installed in new houses, and are insisting that no one is charged or counselled on excessive us of water.

“For me, this is absolutely astounding. Right now, 8% of people are using one third of the water. They could have leaks, they could be unaware of this level and Fianna Fáil want this to continue, and for people to be totally unaware of this. We wanted those who use 1.7 times more than a normal amount to be contacted, to be offered remedies to this but the Fianna Fáil members of the Committee, including Barry Cowen and Willie O’Dea want this to continue. And this is to capture anti-water charge votes at the next election.

“In this scenario, hard-working tax payers will continue to foot the bill for those who actively use two or three times more than their fair share of water. Irish Water continues to invest billions into our water infrastructure, which is in a very bad shape, and this amount will come out of general income tax and other taxes. This is hugely unfair and sees the same people being hit time and time again," he said.

Deputy Burke added that Fianna Fail supporters have contacted him to voice their "disappointment" and "anger" with the party's stance.

"People have been paying thousands on Group Water Schemes and investing in private wells in this part of the country for years, and now they will have to pay more tax so that those who waste water can continue to do so. As outlined in the Dáil this week, this is the party which helped found the State, of Lemass and Lynch. This is the party which represented hard-working, responsible members of the community and the farming community for years, and they are now changing tack and targeting protest votes and the urban population.

“Their stance baffles me. What reasonable person would allow people to continue to waste water and not pay more than everyone else? I continue to think that charges for excessive water must be in place, and I have contacted Minister Coveney on a number of occasions this week on behalf of people who wanted this viewpoint to be communicated.

“I hope that some agreement can be reached in the short term and no election is called so that we can get on with representing the people of this constituency dealing with more pressing issues."