Dessie Ellis (Dublin North West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I am pleased to speak about this important Bill submitted by my friend and party colleague, Deputy Brian Stanley. It stands apart from all of the other arguments about Irish Water. It is not about Irish Water's gross mismanagement or the oppressive tactics of the State in pushing ahead with the installation of water meters. It is not about protesters, water balloons or being stuck in a ministerial car. It is about one thing: public ownership of the water system. Public ownership is crucial if we believe in the right to access water. A private company is not about a rights-based provision but about profit. Water provision should not be about profit, in circumstances involving water charges or otherwise. Access to clean drinking water is the right of every citizen and this right can only be upheld by a body in public ownership. The Bill seeks to ensure this would be the case. It seeks to allow the people to affirm this right by making it a constitutional requirement for Irish water to remain in public ownership and by ensuring that if any subsequent Government seeks to change that position, it would have to go to the people on the matter. That is rather simple and fair, is it not? Ensuring such an important decision cannot be made by a Government on a whim when it decides it no longer needs to uphold its promises is responsible. The ultimate expression of democracy is putting this decision in the hands of the people only. I wonder if a similar approach had been taken in the case of other momentous decisions in the past whether we would have been in the mess we ended up in with regard to bank bailouts and bondholders.

It seems that the Government has accepted this point, despite the spin that Irish Water was protected from privatisation. This was obviously rubbish given the record of the Government in protecting public services, as well as the number of times it has attempted to fly kites about privatisation. The Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government, Deputy Alan Kelly, spent the past three years in the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport with the then Minister, Deputy Leo Varadkar, hammering nails into the coffin of CIE; forgive us, therefore, if we exercise great caution in respect of his promise to protect Irish Water. The plan to privatise 15% of bus routes throughout the country and 100% of Bus Éireann routes in Waterford is an indication of why we need this Bill. The clear fact is that the Water Services Act does not protect water services from privatisation and to claim as much is to play the people for fools. Irish Water could be privatised on the whim of the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government and the Minister for Finance with the consent of the Cabinet. Given the disposition of the Minister, Deputy Alan Kelly, and his party, with its history of back-flipping on its promises, it is far from secure. It is also worth noting that the Minister's promises to personally protect Irish Water are not of much use, given the likelihood that he and his party will be back after the next election.

Yesterday the Minister went further. He now says legislation will be put in place to ensure a plebiscite, as he calls it, would have to be held to privatise Irish Water. If that is only included in legislation, the legislation could be amended and the relevant section deleted to provide for easy privatisation by a future Government. The Government is proposing a flimsy version of our proposal. It is definitely an improvement, but it is not good enough. The people have a right to protect Irish water from privatisation. They should be allowed to exercise that right as soon as possible and if any future Government wishes to change or go against the decision of the people, it can put the matter before the public.

What is the Government afraid of? Public ownership of water services is in keeping with the will of the people and "if any future Government sought to change this, it would be required to put the matter before the electorate through a special referendum." These are the words of the Government which should put the essence of these words into action, support the Bill and the holding of a referendum on public ownership of water services. If it was really dedicated to protecting the service, it would join us in the campaign for its protection.

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