Sinn Fein has claimed that over €460 million has been wasted installing meters that are not needed.

Limerick City TD Maurice Quinlivan accused Fine Gael of wasting money introducing water charges and installing redundant water meters across Ireland.

He called for a referendum on water ownership to be held to ensure Irish Water remains in public ownership.

Deputy Quinlivan said: "Here we are again tonight, now discussing the best way to refund money to people who should not have been forced to pay for water in the first place.

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"We should be spending time debating solutions to other pressing problems such as the 902 people who were on trolleys in University Hospital Limerick last month.

"I will be raising this as a topical issue for debate tomorrow to challenge the Minister on what he is doing to address this.

"Also it perplexes me as to why the Government will not agree to have a referendum on water charges. We will probably have a number of referendums next year, so why not include one on keeping water services in public ownership?

"Water is one of the most valuable commodities in the world, and will become even more valuable due to climate change.

"It is inevitable that people and corporations will want to profit from this demand and privatisation will happen, as it does in other countries, if we do not put the matter of public ownership in the constitution."

(CD/LM)