Alan Shatter (Dublin South, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The legislation was framed in a certain manner as it was always intended that the authority would operate as an independent body. The Bill was prepared with extraordinary speed; Deputies will recall that the Government was formed on 9 March 2011 and operated under an agreement entered into by the previous Government with the troika. The legislation was supposed to be published by the end of September 2011 and when I came to the Department, no work had been done on it of any great significance. As a result of the complexity and breadth of the issues which arose, it was inevitable that a considerable amount of fine-tuning would be required following a consultative process on the Bill. In different circumstances it would have been preferable to publish - as I do with the majority of legislation coming from the Department - a draft Bill for public consultation. The timeframe for meeting the troika's requirements rendered that wish completely impossible.

I am anxious to emphasise that it was never intended for this authority to operate in any manner other than independently. These are important amendments and there should be no perception otherwise. I know Deputy Niall Collins wanted to make a bit of a splash on the water issue.