A Sinn Féin MLA has described the water charges and the privatisation of water services as "wrong and unfair".

Mr Conor Murphy said the charges "can and must be ended".

He was speaking as his party colleagues and other deputies tabled a Dáil motion to scrap water charges.

Mr Murphy said: "When I was the Regional Development Minister in the Executive, Sinn Féin blocked the introduction of water charges and retained water in the public ownership. At the time many commentators and economist said that this could not be done.

"My Sinn Féin colleagues in the Dáil and a cross-party group have tabled a motion calling for water charges to be scrapped. If all the parties that campaign in the election to end these charges, voted in line with their manifesto then these charges and Irish water will be ended."

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However, Fianna Fáil Spokesperson on Housing, Planning and Local Government Barry Cowen TD has slammed Sinn Féin for using Private Members time for political point scoring rather than achieving progress on key policy areas.

He said: "It is disappointing that following the success of the Fianna Fáil Private Members initiative last week on mortgages, Sinn Féin is reverting to type and ignoring the opportunity offered by the new Dáil arithmetic. Instead of bringing forward any sort of innovative policy work, they’re choosing to waste the opportunity on meaningless political point scoring."

Deputy Cowen also confirmed Fianna Fail would be putting forward its own amendment to the motion.

He continued: "This sees the immediate suspension of water charges and the establishment of an expert commission to recommend how best to finance our water service into the future. It will then be up to the Dáil to decide the best route forward.

"When it mattered – when the Dáil was trying to form a Government, Fianna Fáil did the hard negotiating and achieved a path forward on water charges and Irish Water, while others stood on the sidelines and sniped. As a result of that work, legislation will now come forward to stop bills being issued until such times as a majority of deputies in Dáil Éireann vote for their reintroduction."

(CD/MH)