Joan Collins (Dublin South Central, United Left) | Oireachtas source

I am opposing this section. I ask the Minister to reconsider this whole charade that we are going through today. He is setting up a forum that will make comments and suggestions, but only when requested to do so in writing by Irish Water.

Section 7(e) states that a function of the forum will be "to comment on any consultation document produced by the Commission in respect of public water and wastewater services, when requested to do so by the Commission". The forum will not even have the right to do this, because it will only happen if Irish Water, the commission or the Minister requests it.

This is a sop to democracy and to listening to people. The Minister stated he would listen and provide clarity, but if he had done so, he would not be going through with this charade. He would have abolished Irish Water and the water tax, which is what people are demanding.

I will put my position on the record. This section narrows the focus of what we are about as a nation. The first bills will arrive in April. Within 16 months, people might have penalties of €30 or €60 attached to their €160 or €260 charges. This debacle, which has been ongoing since Phil Hogan was Minister, will be gone by then, but only after we will have wasted a great deal of time, energy and people's money.

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