Sinn Féin has hit out at Fianna Fáil over the party's water deal with Fine Gael.

Pearse Doherty TD said the deal reported in the Irish Times is a "major u-turn" and shows the party's "true colours".

He said: "What limited detail is reported this morning in regard to the Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil programme for government negotiations, represents a betrayal of what citizens voted for in the general election in terms of scrapping water charges and abolishing the toxic Irish Water.

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"What the Irish people want is the abolition of both domestic household charges and Irish water.

"This deal is a major u-turn and climbdown from Fianna Fáil on water charges and shows they cannot be trusted to keep their election promises.

"They may be sitting on the opposition benches after this deal is sealed but they will be the architects of this programme for government and Sinn Féin will hold them to account for that.

"They cannot present themselves as a progressive force when they are facilitating the implementation of a conservative and regressive programme for government that they helped design."

(CD/LM)