Paul Murphy (Dublin South West, Socialist Party) | Oireachtas source

I support the motion and I will be interested in hearing a Government response, and a response from the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government, Deputy Kelly, who has driven this. I remind the Deputies of what the Minister of State, Deputy Phelan, said on Committee Stage. He stated, “This Bill is quite technical. There are some typographical issues. It will really be a question of dotting the i's and crossing the t's. The scope of the Bill does not allow for the Bill to be changed in any huge way. The Bill itself is very technical.” What we have here is not just a huge changing of the Bill but another Bill entirely, brought in under the Environment (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2014. This is the water services (No.3) Bill that the Government promised us. It has now come by way of an amendment to a completely different Bill. The purpose of it is entirely transparent, it is to avoid any proper scrutiny here. It may result in any subsequent Act being open to a legal challenge and it is to avoid scrutiny by the public and the response of the public who are gathering for a protest at 6 p.m. outside this building. The Minister of State should answer and the Government should accept this proposal.

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