Barry Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

There is no doubt that the Minister for Finance did not single-handed return this economy towards the prospect of growth, prosperity or even recovery. However, that disregard, contempt and ill-feeling towards genuine fears and anxieties that exist, risks everything and says so much about this Government's total and absolute disregard for the democratic process, a disregard for the people who elected us to this House, who gave us the privilege to explore, analyse and critically examine legislation despite the fact that we might not agree with the thrust of such legislation or the policy behind it. We have a mandate first of all, and a duty thereafter, to analyse that legislation and to ensure in our belief that it will have the least possible detrimental effect on those we represent and is in the best possible interest of the country and the coffers.

I will make clear that my party wants a review of the service-delivery model of the vehicle and of the system which the Government put in place, Irish Water. We want a proper and critical assessment of the sustainability of the funding model contained within it. I want the House to confirm categorically in this debate, once and for all, that there will be no privatisation. I want the Government to enshrine in this Irish Water model, which it has pushed ahead, an equitable regime that has at its core an ability-to-pay clause. I want the Government once again to provide an assurance that there will be full accountable scrutiny of this body by the Oireachtas, that when Members of the Oireachtas make inquiries and raise concerns and when they wish to make representations on behalf of their constituents, they will be treated with a bit of respect which their constituents deserve. The cat is out of the bag and the game is up - Seán O'Rourke saw to that last January. The Government gave commitments which have not been honoured and only when they are honoured can the Minister for Finance, Deputy Noonan, be told that the scratching might stop.

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