Government will have to increase water charges, says Sinn Féín

Sinn Féín has warned that the only way to get Irish Water off the state's balance sheet is to increase water charges.

Finance spokesman Pearse Doherty sais that it is inevitable that the government will now look to increase charges on people who cannot afford them.

"The only way that they will meet the Eurostat ruling in the future is by increasing water charges," said Deputy Doherty.

"So that means that one way or another that customers who are already hard-pressed will be paying additional for water charges under this Government," he said.

"So it is time that the Government accept what the opposition have been saying, that the charging of domestic water charges has been a failure from the get-go."