Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin has said the suspension of water charges will go beyond the nine-month period, as the Dáil will not vote to bring them back, writes Daniel McConnell, Irish Examiner Political Editor.

Mr Martin said the charging regime as we have known it since 2014 are now gone and said given that 90 members of the Dáil oppose water charges, they are unlikely to be returned.

Speaking on RTE’s Today With Sean O’Rourke, Mr Martin revealed that Minister Leo Varadkar revealed during the talks that he felt the water charges was Fine Gael’s ‘e-voting machines’ issue multiplied by ten.

Asked was he breaching the confidentiality of the talks, Mr Martin quipped he was showing the same attitude to the talks that Mr Varadkar adopted.

Mr Martin rejected that his and his party’s stance on water charges was nothing more than rank populism. He retorted that the new Government would not have lasted six months had the water issue not been dealt with.

Even though he has argued for their suspension, Mr Martin said those who have not paid water charges to date should do so, as it is the law of the land.

Asked about his own support for the Fine Gael minority government, he denied he would pull the administration down if it was in the best interest of his own party.

“I think people will want to give this Government formation fair wind,” Mr Martin said.

He also described the failure of the Government to publish the O’Higgins report into alleged corrupt practices in An Garda Síochána as a “scandal”.

He was making his comments in the context of widespread leaks to media outlets in recent days, which revealed that many of the complaints made by Garda Maurice McCabe were legitimate, if somewhat exaggerated.