Mr. Liam Berney:

The 2015 biennial delegate conference of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions passed a motion calling for a referendum. That was before this proposal ever emerged. In the view of ICTU, there is no link between one and the other. We believe the question of securing public water in public ownership through a constitutional referendum should happen regardless of other plans in any other area. We discussed this earlier and to repeat what the Minister has told us on the holding of a referendum, he said he was happy to facilitate the holding of a referendum but he wished to facilitate a referendum on the removal of the eighth amendment from the Constitution in the first instance. Now that has been done, our view is nothing prevents a speedy passage through the Oireachtas of the legislation required to hold a referendum. Our view is that a referendum could be facilitated this calendar year.