Housing Minister Simon Coveney has been accused of making "threats" in an attempt the influence the Oireachtas water committee.

The party's spokesperson on Water, Eoin Ó Broin, said Minister Coveney's letter "effectively threatening a general election if he doesn't get his way was both wholly inappropriate and unacceptable".

He said: "The letter is another attempt by Minister Coveney to interfere with the work of the Committee, similar to the attempted interventions by EU Commissioner Vella. He is once again undermining his own process and the Committee he established in an attempt to put off taking the right decision on the domestic water charges issue. He is, quite frankly, treating the Committee and its members with contempt.

-- Advertisement --

"Fine Gael democratically lost key votes on the report. Instead of accepting this, Minister Coveney is now hiding under an interpretation of the Water Framework Directive. The Water Committee has three separate Senior Council legal opinions, all of which indicate that our proposals are legally sound.

"We did not need to postpone the Committee vote on this report until next week, just as we did not need the Committee extension. Fine Gael must accept that the matter has been decided and bring forward the necessary legislation to get rid of domestic water charges once and for all.

"Fianna Fáil must not conduct back room deals with Fine Gael on this matter over the weekend, that could see water charges returned through the back door."

(CD/JP)