Fianna Fáil is being accused of trying to mislead the public and hide its own legacy on water investment.

Fine Gael Limerick TD, Patrick O'Donovan, said if Fianna Fáil was still in Government, "higher water charges would have been brought in two years ago".

He said: "Successive Fianna Fáil governments failed to invest in water services, and as a result we have been left with creaking system in need of a multi-billion euro upgrade.

"Fianna Fáil is talking out of both sides of its mouth on this issue. Not only is the Party trying to hide the fact that it failed to invest in our water infrastructure for decades, it is also trying to gloss over the fact that, when it was still in government, Fianna Fáil committed to set up a water utility company and wanted to start charging consumers from 2012.

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"Last week, Fianna Fáil was criticising the Commission for Energy Regulation (CER), which will be responsible for regulating Irish Water and protecting consumers’ interests. Now, when we see that the CER has demanded that Irish Water cuts its operating costs in the interest of consumers, Fianna Fáil is still giving out.

"Fianna Fáil left us with a legacy of boil water notices, poor water pressure and water shortages. We will finally be able to fix these problems through proper investment in our water infrastructure."

(CD/MH)