Fianna Fail may have gotten their way and have fulfilled their many objective of their election manifesto by getting rid of the much hated water charges for the time being, but it now looks like that is how far they willing to go as the party’s leader Michael Martin has revealed he believes it would be “dangerous” and “risky” to refund the 950,000 people who have already paid their water charges.
Mr Martin instead however insisted his party’s position is that those who reluctantly refused to pay their charges should in fact do so. The Fianna Fail leader also claimed that there were a number of mechanisms to secure the money from those individuals who have reluctantly not paid their charges.
Mr Martin and his party fully believe refunding those householders who have paid in full is “highly dangerous, unprecedented and risky for the State”.
It is believed that Fianna Fail’s stance on the matter comes after they held further meetings with Fine Gael on Wednesday In which they discussed a number of outstanding issues on Irish Water to be resolved.
According to sources close to both parties there is a ongoing disagreement surrounding the wording of new legislation that will effectively suspend the water charges. Sources say Fine Gael are reluctant to place into law the commitment that water charges would only return if the Dáil votes on it.
However it is thought that further progress can be made with the two parties hashing out a deal on water charges that would put an end to the current situation and pave the way for the formation of a minority government led by Enda Kenny.