Thomas Pringle (Donegal South West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

My fear is that this will happen in piecemeal fashion. Even if the Government does not decide to amend this legislation and sell off Irish Water as a whole, what will probably happen when the service level agreements with the local authorities come up for renewal in 2025 is that the Commission for Energy Regulation will insist on the contracts going out to tender. Members will then see water companies such as Veolia, Severn Trent and Celtic Anglian Water that are already operating design, build and operate contracts nationwide tender for the contract for the provision of regional supplies. Consequently, the local authorities will be forced into a position where they will be obliged to tender for a service level agreement against the likes of Veolia or Severn Trent. Moreover, they will lose because it will be an unfair competition as the Commission for Energy Regulation was established to liberalise energy markets. It has been highly successful both at increasing the price of electricity and facilitating the entry of other operators into the market. That is the creeping privatisation that will happen, regardless of whether the Government or any future Government decides to amend the legislation or have a plebiscite. What will happen is that, county by county, the operation will be handed over to private companies to provide services. In many ways, that is the ideal world for these private companies because they will not have any of the responsibility or the governance procedures required. Irish Water will still do all of that for them and they will simply receive a massive cheque for the provision of services that heretofore have been provided by local authorities. Therefore, while I acknowledge the Minister has tabled an amendment, it does not go far enough and one must ask why there is such resistance within the Government to holding a referendum to ensure Irish Water will stay in Irish ownership. That is something the Minister must address.

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