Sinn Fein has reiterated its call to abolish domestic water charges.

The party's spokesperson on water Eoin Ó Bróin also urged Housing Minister Simon Coveney to "butt out" of water committee work.

He said: "The cross party committee was set up by the government to make recommendations based on the report of the so-called Expert Commission on Water. The committee has only met once and should be allowed to make its recommendations without being influenced by the opinion of Minister Coveney. Fine Gael has five members on the committee. They can make their case on what constitutes 'excess use' when it comes up for debate during the committee.

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"Domestic water charges must be abolished in full. The excess use charge argument is a red herring. The facts are, according to the Expert Commission Report that:

"Domestic consumption is relatively low in Ireland with average consumption of 123 litres per capita (compared, for example, to 140 litres per capita in the UK). This metered data also indicated that 7% of households are using six times more water than the average household, although Irish Water indicated this level of consumption is likely to decline as customer-side leaks are fixed.

"We need to move on from the water charges debate. The debate could have been ended months ago if the government allowed a vote to be tabled for the abolition of the charges. Instead they choose to kick the can down the road."

(CD/MH)