Sinn Féin has hit out at the Government over plans to take money from people's wages to pay for water charges.

Deputy Leader Mary Lou McDonald told Tánaiste Joan Burton in the Dáil that the proposals were "low, sneaky and cowardly".

Deputy McDonald said: "Tánaiste, for several months now, I have been asking you to explain how families who have borne the brunt of your Government's austerity policies are meant to pay your unjust and unfair Water Tax.

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"I have asked you directly which daily necessities you propose they forgo to prop up the discredited entity that is Irish Water. You have never once given me a straight answer to these questions.

"Now we know the reason for your reticence. All along you were planning legislation to pick-pocket people's wages, pensions and social welfare payments.

"Your proposal is low, it's sneaky and it is a cowardly proposition in the face of mass public opposition to your Water Tax. That such a Thatcherite policy is being introduced by Labour party Ministers makes it all the more despicable."

(CD/JP)