Mattie McGrath (Tipperary South, Independent)

I am disappointed the Deputy did not get the heckler of the year award last year, but he will get over it. He got it for a few years.

The Government is putting an institution in place to regionalise water services and it is will have an impact assessment afterwards. The Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government will have a consultation period in a couple of weeks, even though the Bill will be passed on Thursday. What kind of Government is this? How do we expect the public to have any respect for us if we vote for a pig in a poke and vote for something we do not know? This might have happened in countries without a democracy, but these Ministers have a huge dose of arrogance and a huge dose of disrespect for the democratic process. They are bringing Bill after Bill before the House and they are telling us we will discuss it afterwards with the stakeholders.

I know the Minister opposite, Deputy Shatter, is a new Minister and I wish him well. I voted for his Government, in fairness, but I regret it already. How long has this Bill been lying around in the Department? Have the senior officials examined it? Why could they not have the regulatory impact assessment ready with it? They make excuse after excuse, but it is just not acceptable. It is not good enough that we are expected to discuss legislation when we have not had proper, decent advice, and a consultation process carried out with the relevant stakeholders. There are many of them here, such as the Law Library and the Bar Council, and many of them are friends of the Minister.

This is a sham and a scam. It is a far cry from the transparency, openness and good governance that Government Members claimed they would bring. They have become nothing but lapdogs for the EU. They are summoned there every week and they will say "yes sir", "how much sir?" and "how many bags full sir?" They made it worse then when they were found out last week. The troika believed the Government had a mandate for this. It has no mandate for many of the Bills it is bringing in here. It is time the Government respected the other Members in this House and the electorate. I wish the Minister a safe journey to the Bundesbank tomorrow. I hope he brings the green jersey.

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