Barry Cowen (Offaly, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

On the U-turn and Kama Sutra references made by a Sinn Féin contributor, I recall Deputy Eoin O'Broin recommending the establishment of a commission to examine the issue of water charges. Now that we have such a commission, Sinn Féin wants it to be abolished. I also recall that the view of Sinn Féin was that there be no refund for those who had paid water charges under the failed regime introduced by the previous Government. Now that there is no possibility that they will be refunded, it wants them to be refunded. When the same failed regime was brought into force by the previous Government, Sinn Féin members individually said they would pay their water charges. They are now saying they will not pay them. I refer the Deputy who referred to U-turns and the Kama Sutra to Houdini and contortionists in considering Sinn Féin's stance on this issue.

I acknowledge, as any democrat in the House would, the right of Sinn Féin to table motions. It is its prerogative to decide what form such motions might take or how its aims might be met in bringing forward such motions. I do not want to go over old ground in considering how and why we find ourselves at this juncture and the juncture at which we found ourselves following the general election in February and had to consider the people's verdict on the failed water regime introduced by the previous Government, although many other things contributed to that result. Suffice it to say the general election produced an inconclusive result in so far as there was no clear majority or preference by the people of a particular Taoiseach or Government. Some of us in this House took our responsibilities thereafter quite seriously, while others did not. Having failed to achieve the requisite number of Members elected by the people to allow Deputy Micheál Martin to lead the Government, Fianna Fáil sought on three occasions to have him elected as leader of the Government but without success. As republicans and democrats, we recognise that decision. As I said, Fianna Fáil took its responsibilities seriously and sought to give credit to the electorate by allowing a Government to be formed on the basis of the result of the general election. As inconclusive or convoluted as it might have been, it was important that the decision of the people be respected.

Having failed to achieve its objective to lead the Government, Fianna Fáil saw fit to facilitate the formation of a Government which would have to deal with many pressing issues, some of which were more pressing than the issue about which we are speaking, including housing, health, education, regional development, job creation in the regions, policing and so on. As I said, others saw fit not to entertain the prospect of entering that process, rather they would have foisted another election on the people. Perhaps that is what they want to do now. I am firmly of the view, as I was then, that the people do not want another election. They want a Government and to see results in dealing with various issues. That requires us to be focus driven, interested in seeking resolutions and results and achieving particular aims, thereby giving value to the votes cast in our favour and that of others. To allow that process to reach a conclusion, it was obvious from Fianna Fáil's perspective that it had to negotiate and compromise with Fine Gael which had a completely opposing view to that of Fianna Fáil on water services. We had to allow a pathway to be put in place to deal with that issue in order that a Government and the Dáil would be able to deal with other pressing issues such as the fairer delivery of public services and having a two to one split in favour of public services in the context of taxation cuts, despite what the outgoing Government had sought to do in its efforts to seek the approval of the electorate. One cannot engage in a negotiating process and expect to reach a conclusion and still have the same position at the end of it. God knows, Sinn Féin, above everybody else, should know this, given the pathway it has travelled in another jurisdiction on the island.

Fianna Fáil's supports the Government's amendment to the motion as proposed by the previous speaker, the Minister for Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government, Deputy Simon Coveney, which seeks the support of the Dáil for the ongoing work of the expert commission on domestic public water services, including its recent public consultation process, with a view to producing recommendations by the end of November. Nothing has changed in that regard. Fianna Fáil also supports the future consideration of the recommendations of the expert commission on domestic water charges by a special Oireachtas committee which will endeavour to make its own recommendations by the end of February. We continue to support and honour our commitment in that regard also. Ultimately, a decision of the Oireachtas on the future funding model for the delivery of domestic water and wastewater services will be made by the end of March 2017.

Fine Gael, as leader of the Government, has committed to sponsoring the legislation agreed to by the Oireachtas after it goes through a full and thorough process that will analyse all options and ask the Dáil to make a decision.

That is how the issue will be dealt with. As I stated, parallel to this we can move forward with a Government that can make recommendations to deal with the housing crisis and in the upcoming budget for how public services should be funded in the forthcoming year, with a different direction and shape and in a different manner from the way in which they were dealt with by the previous Administration. This is the commitment we gave and to which we signed up. This is the value we gave to the votes of those who voted in our favour. We want to honour and continue to honour this commitment.

I will vote against Sinn Féin's motion which has no legal basis, just as I voted against a previous motion immediately after the general election. If we had not entered into the negotiations and allowed ourselves to be in a position to seek the support of the rest of the parliamentary party to facilitate the formation of a Government, there is no doubt that Sinn Féin and others would still have brought forward these motions, but a Government would not have been able to function and we would have had to go to the country again. Perhaps we might be in the same position as Spain, having gone through a process in the past nine or ten months without a government. That is not what the people wanted.

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