Paul McAuliffe (Dublin North West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Deputy Flaherty has covered many of the points that I want to raise. From a wider perspective, having discussed the Bill with Irish Water I know there are a number of powers it fears it may lose from the current range of powers it has. It believes the process with the local authorities is working quite well. Has the Minister of State examined any process to deal with issues such as this where there might be disagreements? After some time of operating the Bill, it would become very obvious whether there was a challenge.

Is there a process the Minister of State has considered, particularly for statutory bodies and bodies such as Irish Water where, if those type of issues arose, they might be addressed as part of that process? It is a broader query. I accept the bona fides of the Minister of State's answer, but if an issue were to arise, is there a process that would allow more speedy amendment? Amending the Bill again in future would be difficult in the normal legislative process. Do we have any process for identifying those types of issues? I imagine that will not just relate specifically to this amendment. In the overall delivery of the Bill, many other issues might be slightly different than the legislation or wording might have intended.