Mattie McGrath (Tipperary, Independent) | Oireachtas source

-----in spite of being asked by dozens of older people, who have been paying for water all their lives, to attend.

We have a charade here. I was in discussions on the programme for Government for a number of days and never mentioned water charges once. There were many other issues that we debated that were far more serious. We wanted to form a Government to ensure that people had one, rather than sitting on the fence trying to ensure that we would have anarchy, which is what some people seem to want.

I saw the treatment of the Chair earlier and the blaming of the Bills Office and the Journal Office for the wording of amendments. There are rules and procedures here and we have the d'Hondt system in committees now, which is where these issues are to be discussed. I am very surprised to see the great democrats seeking to deny the Seanad its input by way of the amendments here.

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