Fianna Fáil issued the following statement on April 6th 2017 following Fine Gael's rejection of a Oireachtas Water Committee Draft Report the previous day. According to the Irish Times the two parties will meet over the weekend. So it remains to be seen Fianna Fáil succumbs to what he describes as 'manoeuvring in an internal political party contest'.

Leo Varadkar, left andSimon Coveney, right

Fianna Fáil Spokesperson on Housing, Planning and Local Government Barry Cowen TD said, “Yet again it has been confirmed that the two contestants for the Fine Gael leadership are willing to endanger their government’s existence in order to prove their macho credentials to Fine Gael members.

It appears that their leadership contest is not about the future of Ireland but about who will be more aggressive with other parties. Their continued defence of a discredited policy and insistence that clear agreements can be breached continues to be a major problem.

Fine Gael’s water policy has been a fiasco from the outset. They delivered a loss-making regressive charge and a state agency focused on issuing bills rather than fixing leaks. It continues to spin but the failure of their policy is absolutely clear.

The policy which Fianna Fáil is supporting is legally, environmentally and financially sound – as proven repeatedly in the evidence and independent advice obtained by the Oireachtas Committee.

Fianna Fáil has honoured its confidence and supply agreement in full and without game-playing. We will, however, not accept any attempt by Fine Gael to change its terms to suit the interests of manoeuvring in an internal party contest.”