Fergus O'Dowd (Louth, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

If we take the example of Irish Water, with which I am most familiar, the legislation is very clear. The three shares are owned by Irish Water, the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government and the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources. The legislation states that they can never be disposed of. What we are talking about here is about getting advice as to what happens subsequent to a decision by a Minister, which is in legislation. I presume that if the ownership is in legislation, that means the authority of the Oireachtas is behind it. One cannot change it unless one brings in new legislation, because the law does not allow one to do that. That is the summary of the case-----