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

He says he wants to work with the committee to see the recommendations of the special Oireachtas committee and the Dáil through. I genuinely want to believe the Minister. We have battles over policy but I always think that with a constitutional referendum, having the maximum degree of consensus is the best way to go. It is the best way to guarantee in a referendum campaign, if and when it happens, that the question is passed.

The frustration on this side of the House is the length of time that he and his predecessor have been telling us that they want to work with us, while in all that time, as Deputy Cowen notes, no alternative proposals have been put on the table. It is about 15 months. We were originally told by the Minister's predecessor, Deputy Coveney, that he wanted to consult the Attorney General and he gave the impression it would come back to us. We gave him quite a lot of time to do that. There was a change in Minister and Deputy Eoghan Murphy came into the position. We have dealt with him since.

If the Minister had made the proposal for us to postpone this a year ago or even six or seven months ago, it would have been reasonable and I would certainly have had no difficulty with it. We are 15 months on from the passing of the Bill on Second Stage and there is no amendment or alternative proposal. Again, if the Government argued that the Bill cannot be amended but it had a better alternative proposition, nobody on this side of the House would have refused to engage, formally or informally, to tease all of that out. On that basis, at this stage I cannot accept a postponement of the legislation.

Some of the matters raised by the Minister were dealt with pretty comprehensively by Mr. Séamas Ó Tuathail when he presented to the committee. He spoke, for example, about management by third parties, whether they were design and build; design, build and operate; or public private partnerships. Notwithstanding the fact that I do not like those models and my understanding is Irish Water does not like those models because they are not the most cost-effective, Mr. Ó Tuathail's legal advice to the committee was that the constitutional referendum as proposed does not jeopardise any such arrangements. They would be a management decision for the public authority as set out. Mr. Ó Tuathail dealt with the sale of obsolete assets very comprehensively, saying that once an asset is obsolete it is no longer part of the public system or the functioning water and sanitation network. Its decommissioning automatically means it is excluded from the terms and protections of the wording and therefore can be sold or dismantled.

I note neither the Minister nor Deputy Cowen responded to the solution we put forward on the uncertainty aspect. I know the Minister was not at the committee meeting when the Office of the Parliamentary Legal Advisor gave detailed advice and therefore he did not have the benefit of the subsequent conversation. The best way to avoid that uncertainty falling to the courts is for the Government to legislate that uncertainty away. The solution to those problems identified by the Minister - I stress the Minister's sincerity in this - is not to change the wording but rather to clarify the matters in law before any constitutional amendment so everybody can have legal clarity in terms of what is public and what is not, and what protection, management and maintenance means. The argument is that this may lead to additional obligations on the State to provide public water to people who are not currently in the system. I genuinely do not see how that is possible as this deals with the public system as it currently exists and the responsibilities of the State in that respect. Again, clarifying legislation could deal with that.

I will not repeat all these points when we go through the parts of the legislation and Deputy Collins can speak for herself but we have waited long enough. Our preference at this stage is that we decide on this. If the Government is opposed to this or Fianna Fáil cannot support it in its current form, people should know that and we should decide and move on. If this is rejected today, my understanding is it is to be sent back to the Dáil because it has not passed Committee Stage. The clerk might clarify that. It still would not mean the matter goes away. If the Government is not accepting this but it is committed to honouring fully the recommendations of the Oireachtas committee on the future funding of water services, it will have to come up with an alternative proposal at some stage. Why not allow us to proceed at this stage and do it on Report Stage or when it goes to the Seanad? It would help us get this done.