Fergus O'Dowd (Louth, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

There are three issues here we need to deal with. One is the question of reassuring the public that Irish Water will never by privatised. The Government had one lock, that it is already forbidden in law, before any of our new legislation came in, that the Government cannot sell off water infrastructure. The second part of that lock is the proposal in this Bill, which no doubt will pass. However, the real triple-lock, what would solidify the fact that it will never be sold, would be a referendum on the issue. I do not see why we do not do that. I see no reason whatsoever not to do it, unless the Minister may believe that there are some unintended consequences to such a referendum. The public wants it.

Some of the concerns might be about a referendum about the ownership of other entities, particularly energy companies. Views on that issue are not as strongly held as those on this one. I believe we should reach out. The Minister is in his wisdom listening to the people and listening to us here. He should reach out and hold such a referendum. If that happened it would put the argument to bed for all time.

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