The Government has no intention of abolishing the water charges, Taoiseach Enda Kenny has said.

He told the Dáil today that there were subsidies, benefits and tax credits which would cover the vast majority of households in the State.

He said the Budget changes were modest and were never meant to be extravagant.

“We are not in a position to write blank cheques,’’ he added.

He said the Government had embarked on the first of a three-year programme of changing the income tax system to demonstrate that it paid to work and that it was rewarded.

Mr Kenny was replying to Independent TD Joan Collins, representing the Technical Group, at Opposition leaders' questions.

Ms Collins said any limited gains from the Budget in taxation changes to low and moderate incomes would be wiped out by the water charges next January.

Some workers would have barely the price of a cup, or two cups, of coffee after the Budget, she added. The Government, she said, had panicked after the massive demonstration against the charges on last Saturday and the results of the byelections.

She urged the Taoiseach to accept the inevitability of what would happen and abolish the charges.