Fine Gael/Fianna Fáil can phone Sinn Féin but republicans won't prop them up in power

IF ENDA KENNY or Mícheál Martin want to talk to Sinn Féin then they know how to pick up the telephone but Sinn Féin has no mandate to prop up a conservative administration led by Fine Gael or Fianna Fáil, Louise O'Reilly TD insisted at the Dáil today.

The newly-elected Fingal deputy also said that both Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael need to state very clearly where each of them stands on water charges as rumours abound.

“What we need to hear are unequivocal statements from Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael on what they intend to do about charges and Irish Water. People need to know.”

A commission to examine a charging regime reportedly being discussed by Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael is not what people voted for when Fianna Fáil promised in its election manifesto to scrap water charges, she said. She added that the majority of TDs were elected on the basis of opposition to water charges.

A commission should follow the abolition of Irish Water and water charges to establish the best way to safeguard this utility in public ownership under control of the state and provide a safe and efficient delivery system to people, the Sinn Féin TD said.

She accused Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael of engaging in a “phoney war” over Irish Water in a bid to show they have differences between them when in fact there are very few.

Louise O'Reilly rejected claims that Sinn Féin has been “sitting on its hands” while Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil wrangle over power.

“We have been actively participating on Dáil reform, we're the party that has been leading on the issue of homelessness and forced the establishment of an all-party committee, we're all at work in the Dáil and our constituencies – we haven't been sitting on our hands.”