Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Tuesday, 28 September 2021

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government

General Scheme of the Water Services Separation Bill 2021: Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage

Mr. Feargal Ó Coigligh:

As I outlined in my opening statement, the current legislation requires there to be a plebiscite of the people before the shares can be divested from public ownership. The Bill is not changing that. It is a very tight lock on the public ownership issue. Obviously, it would be impossible for it to go to a plebiscite without the consent of the Dáil. That is there. The policy paper published in February pointed to the possibility of a referendum as part of the consideration of the negotiations that are currently happening with the unions and the wider context of that. That is still under consideration by the Government.

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