Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

The Government's gymnastics on the issue of privatisation cannot mask the reality that, with the establishment of Irish Water and a charging regime, privatisation has already started. Its assurances are completely worthless. It should consider the reality of Irish Water. Some €500 million is to go mostly to Denis O'Brien's GMC/Sierra to install meters. Some €175 million will be spent by the end of 2015 on consultants and private contractors. Private landlords are now to be the debt collectors for Irish Water. Effectively, Irish Water is already the property of the consultants and big contractors and even private landlords acting as its agents. The company is being privatised.

One of the most shocking aspects of Irish Water that has still not been fully taken up in the general discussion on what is occurring but which should ring alarm bells in a very major way is evident in the customer terms and conditions agreement. It states: "The Customer shall not allow the discharge of rainwater run-off from roofs, paved areas or other surfaces into any Sewer, except as may otherwise be agreed in advance with Irish Water in writing". This is the legal basis for Irish Water to claim ownership of the rain that comes from the sky onto people's roofs. In Bolivia and the United States, once private companies entered into the picture and water services fell under a legal private entity, as is Irish Water under the Water Services Act, they claimed ownership of rainwater and had inspectors going around to people's houses telling them that the water running off their roofs was their property and had to be paid for. The condition I have quoted establishes the legal basis for such a regime here. I bet the Minister of State, Deputy Paul Kehoe, has not even read it. This is what the Government is up to and the people will not buy it.

See this speech in context