Pat Rabbitte (Dublin South West, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I gave that commitment to Deputy Moynihan on Committee Stage and I am happy to repeat it. There is no intention on the part of the Government to privatise Irish Water. Our water assets are critical national infrastructure. Irish Water has, therefore, been established as a fully State owned subsidiary of Bord Gáis Éireann and there is no intention either now or in the future to dispose of it or its assets.

The Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government will bring a new water services Bill before the Oireachtas in the coming months. I understand an outline of the draft scheme of the Bill has been published on the Department's website. The matter raised in Deputy Moynihan's amendment is more properly addressed in this forthcoming legislation. On that basis I regret that I cannot accept the amendment.

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