Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Independent) | Oireachtas source

Rather than the plebiscite that the Minister proposes, I tabled a Bill looking to alter Article 10 of the Constitution - a simple line stating that the water supply could not be sold into private ownership - but it was ruled out of order by the Ceann Comhairle using a new Standing Order that was never meant to be used in that way. I wanted, in the Dáil, to criticise the Ceann Comhairle for his actions, which, I believed, were repugnant to good parliamentary work, but I was told by the Ceann Comhairle's office that there is another Standing Order that means I am not allow criticise the Ceann Comhairle for anything he does. Obviously, because I am not allowed criticise the Ceann Comhairle, I will not suggest that he is acting contrary to the good working of the Parliament, but we could have an interesting conversation if he was not protected by that interesting Standing Order.

I resubmitted the provision as amendment No. 3 to this Bill, and it was ruled out of order. Because the previous Standing Order could not be used, a new Standing Order was used to rule it out this time. It was ruled that my amendment, which seeks to delete a provision of the Bill, does not speak to the provisions of the Bill. There was also a technical reason - that a Bill that changes the Constitution can only concern itself with changing the Constitution. Whilst some of these rulings may be technically correct, as a Member of the Oireachtas, I feel that when I am trying to do the work of Parliament and table legislation that I and those I represent believe in, we are dealing with an apparatus and a set of rules that seems dedicated to stopping us from having sensible parliamentary conversation. There seems to be a body of work that needs to be done to change the Standing Orders of this House. Deputy Kelly is a member of Cabinet. I had four amendments tabled for this evening, all of which were very sensible, but three of them have been ruled out of order. One amendment that was ruled out of order sought a reduction in charges for those who have no wastewater treatment, such as in Arklow, which would have reduced revenues to Irish Water.

I had that ruled out of order on the basis that it would result in a charge on the Exchequer. How Irish Water not getting extra money from Arklow is a charge on the Exchequer is beyond me. I did a count and discovered that more than half of the 31 amendments tabled by Members of the House, other than the Minister, were ruled out of order. Deputy Naughten's amendment, which dared to suggest that a "may" should be turned into a "shall" also cannot be discussed by Parliament because that would incur a charge on the Exchequer. I am aware the Minister has nothing to do with the amendments being ruled out of order but he is sitting at the Cabinet table and it is impossible for us as Members of the Oireachtas to conduct proper parliamentary business when faced with a set of rules which seem dedicated to stopping us conducting parliamentary business.

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