Colm Keaveney (Galway East, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

The purpose of the section is to provide for the setting up of a forum and that the Commission for Energy Regulation, CER, would establish that forum. I do not have confidence in the CER, no more than the Minister can have confidence in that body because there have been so many U-turns with respect to undermining the role of the energy regulator. I believe there have been approximately 11 U-turns and I do not know what kind of confidence one could have in the energy regulator if the Government cannot have any confidence with respect to its role in protecting the public interest.

I agree with the previous speakers that, essentially, this is a fig leaf in which it is proposed to set up a forum without any public terms of reference at this point. What is its stated purpose, apart from making comment? The former Minister of State who set up Irish Water speaks of another forum that has a powerful influence in the privatisation of Irish Water. He put it on the record of the House this week. There are forces and my concern pertains to how selections are made or who is selected to sit on a forum. One must have a clear understanding of its standing orders, stated purpose and so on. However, I do not believe a situation will arise in which there will be the requisite type of transparency to keep as much democratic control as possible on the role of the public interest, that is, the role of the citizen, in any forum.

It is clear that we must learn from what we have and, at present, we have the local authorities, which are democratically controlled by the citizens. That is the forum that is being ripped apart and a corporate model is now being set up with a fig-leaf consumer or customer forum. Clearly, it does not have an agreed understanding from the Oireachtas as to its stated purpose and I question whether it will prevent anything with regard to the forces that exist behind the scenes. Obviously, the former Minister of State who was responsible at the time could not prevent the deletion of an inclusion in the legislation that would have prevented proposals on privatisation. What is the purpose of this committee with respect to its role in protecting the public interest? This provision proposes a public water forum set up by the Commission for Energy Regulation that will represent the interests of the customer. There are a number of interests from different sources obviously, including the Department, some commercial, some from the citizens and some from the consumer. It is incredibly important that this proposal be rejected out of hand because it would imply that Members would shift the liability and responsibility for accountability further away from this House and further away from the hands of the people.

It is not even clear how the process of selecting those 60 people would be handled. I would have major difficulty were the CER to select some of the dark forces that were being referenced in this Chamber on Tuesday night and who were driving the privatisation agenda that prevented the then Minister of State from putting in a provision. I would have a major difficulty were the CER to choose from a pool of people who had an agenda to privatise Irish Water and to take it out of the hands of the people. It is not transparent and Members are being asked to vote on something that clearly does not have a set of standing orders in which they can have confidence. Moreover, it does not have a sense of purpose or a culture with which Members can identify in terms of its purpose and function. It is important that Members reject this proposal. It is a fig leaf and a distraction from the reality that there are other forces at play regarding another agenda. In recent weeks, Members will have seen powerful meetings taking place with backbenchers down the corridors of power. That is where the decision-making on this matter will take place. It will not be with some public water forum set up by the Commission for Energy Regulation, which clearly does not have the confidence of the Government because after the budget, announcements were made on 11 U-turns on specific areas. How can Members have confidence with the CER establishing a forum that would have a customer or citizens' interest without having a proper, open dialogue and debate here today on the kind of standing orders, on the forum's stated purpose and on how appointments can be made clearly and transparently? Again, I have concerns that whomsoever is appointed to this forum easily could come from that basket of forces the former Minister of State talks about in respect of the agenda of privatisation. Members must guard against this carefully.

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