Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thank Deputy Joan Collins for the work she and her team have done on the Bill. Our party was very proud to be a co-signatory of the Bill, at her request, as many other Deputies were. We are 15 months on from the passing of Second Stage of the Bill. As Deputy Joan Collins says, we have had much discussion. Throughout that discussion several contributors have expressed concerns at the wording of the amendment. I accept their sincerity. The Minister and his predecessor outlined concerns orally and in writing. The National Federation of Group Water Schemes has done so and the written advice from the OPLA also outlined those concerns. It would be remiss of the committee to dismiss those or not take them seriously given that this is a proposed amendment of the Constitution.

Our discussion with the legal representative from the OPLA was very interesting because she shared several of the concerns the Minister outlined in his letter to the committee. We had a very interesting conversation because the concerns are about the absence of a legal definition of the water system, the public water system, where public ownership stops and where private and group ownership start. If that is not defined could there be ownership conflicts and legal challenges on the other side of a successful referendum? What do the key words in the Bill, the "protection, management and maintenance" of that system mean? What is the responsibility of the State, central government, local government or agents of the State such as Irish Water in protection, management and maintenance in respect of the private and group schemes? We made a sensible suggestion, which was not the suggestion of the OPLA, but our own, that if it is clarified in law and stated very clearly in legislation what the public system is, where it starts and stops, and the same for the non-public system, and if we define the responsibility of the State and its agents with respect to protection, management and maintenance before the referendum, those concerns are dealt with. That would take some time but those of us who want to see that constitutional protection would be more than happy to work with the Department and Minister in producing that legislation because we want to make sure that if there is constitutional protection it is done in the right way and without negative consequences for people, whether on the voluntary or statutory side currently providing water services. That is my response to the concern I anticipate the Minister will raise today.

The water debate was very divisive. Those of us who sat on the Oireachtas Joint Committee on the Future Funding of Domestic Water Services will have fond memories of those sessions. The one issue that was not divisive, however, was that of constitutional protection of the public water system. The trade union movement was very divided about water charges, some took an active role in campaigning against them, some stayed neutral and others took the view that it was a sensible move. All of those unions, particularly in the context of the negotiations on Irish Water's single utility proposal, are saying they would like to see the constitutional protection because it would reassure their members that, whatever the detail of the industrial relations issues that transpire, they would have the protection of being public sector workers working for a public utility in the public good. That reflects the fact that the largest number of submissions to the expert commission on domestic water services was on this issue and polling data indicate strong public support.

Leaving aside the merits of the constitutional protection, if the Minister is keen to achieve a positive outcome with the unions on the single utility, an issue where he and I probably disagree on some of the details, this referendum is even more important now than prior to the single utility proposal. There is a solution to these concerns and I take those concerns very seriously. I and others supporting the Bill are willing to work with the Government to deal with those concerns prior to any referendum to ensure that everybody benefits from good legislation and what could be a good referendum campaign.