The Green Party has said "kicking the water argument down the road for another few months will not achieve anything".

Leader Eamon Ryan TD also said it is hard to see how the standoff on water can be resolved, and a general election may well be unavoidable.

Mr Ryan said: "This is now all about political positioning rather than what is good public policy. Fianna Fáil have dug themselves into an illogical position for fear of losing votes to Sinn Féin, who in turn changed their policy in response to the AAA-PBP byelection win in Dublin West.

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"They are still getting it wrong by saying we have to implement an excessive use charge for fear of European fines, instead of saying this conserves a precious natural resource, saves us all money in the long run, is better for the environment and the economy and can be done in a fair way.

"This issue is analysed to death and at a certain point procrastination does more harm than good. We have been trying to make this Dáil work and think a lot can be achieved, but you need some level of trust for consensus style politics to work.

"We need to answer some hard questions about how we fund infrastructure, support third level education and move to a single-tier health system but all three issues are now stuck in Oireachtas committees."

(CD/LM)