Sinn Fein has renewed its call for water charges to be abolished.

The party made the call after the latest figures revealed that in the last cycle Irish Water only collected 27% of charges that were due.

Sinn Féin spokesperson on Water Eoin Ó Broin TD said Irish Water needs to be scrapped and the charges will "remain the most contentious of political issues".

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He said: "Irish Water has only managed to collect 27% of the charge due this quarter compared to 49% in the last quarter, 62% in the third quarter, 56% in the second quarter and 45% in the first quarter.

"These massive slumps in payment rates show clearly that water charges have no future.

"With the government and Fianna Fáil still only advocating for a temporary suspension of the charges, it appears they are not listening to the people.

"With the focus soon to turn to the work of the so called expert Commission on Water, the government must abandon the delay tactics they cooked up with Fianna Fáil, and legislate directly for the abolition of domestic water charges."

(CD/MH)