Thomas Byrne (Meath East, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I am delighted to be here to support Deputy Collins's Bill and the principle of it. I am very glad Fianna Fáil is supporting it. Two years ago almost to the day, I an my colleague, then Senator Darragh O'Brien, put forward a motion in the Seanad calling on the Government to initiate legislation to provide for a constitutional referendum to enshrine the ownership of Irish Water to the Irish people in perpetuity. At the time, the Labour Party grouping in the Seanad rightly rebelled the Government Whip and joined us. The motion was passed in the Seanad, one of the few times a cross-party motion involving all parties and none managed to be successful in the Seanad. Certainly it did not have a chance in the Dáil at that time. This is the background I come from, this is what I want and this is what I believe in.

Between one thing and another after the motion was passed, the Labour Party, in fairness to it, played a key role and the legislation was tightened. In truth, even without this Bill, and every party here agrees, it would be almost impossible to privatise Irish Water but I agree with the principle of enshrining it in public ownership simply because of that very slight chance that some decision would happen in Dáil Éireann to privatise it. The chances of it politically and practically speaking are almost zero. Even Deputy Collins would probably accept this as we stand. I very much support the principle of the Bill, the principle of holding a referendum and the actuality of holding a referendum on this issue.

Perhaps it was to the surprise of Deputy Collins that we are supporting the Bill. One of the reasons we are supporting it is because we have a record on the issue and we want to continue it and implement it. In her surprise, she changed the debate slightly and is asking us to support the exact wording she has tabled. Her wording is good but I am not happy now with the wording I tabled two years ago because it is slightly wrong. Deputy Darragh O’Brien and I worked on it together, along with Seanad colleagues at the time. The wording I tabled two years ago would have benefitted from wider consultation, even though it was abundantly clear what the principle was. There was absolutely no doubt about the principle of what I was putting forward but when I looked at the wording, and I am a solicitor by profession, I thought I could tweak it. I have not given this wording huge study because we are speaking about the general principle of it, but it would benefit from everybody examining it. Perhaps it will not be improved upon but perhaps it will. We will all have views on it. The Government, the Attorney General, the parties, Deputy Collins, her colleagues and Fianna Fáil will have an opportunity to look at this.

There are issues. For example, Irish Water owns the sewerage system but it is not covered by the wording of the Bill. However, I do not want to stand in the way of a referendum, and I want there to be a referendum on this issue so I come to the debate in that spirit. I am delighted that this has been brought forward but I worry that some people see the issue as an opportunity for conflict, although I do not refer to Deputy Joan Collins in this respect. For the first time ever, the Dáil is coming together to allow this principle to go through in respect of water. Deputy Collins has done us a service by bringing together her thinking and that of colleagues, including myself, and we finally seem to have a point in relation to water on which everyone agrees. Nobody wants to privatise water and we have taken a huge step forward. We have all worked on this and I am glad to have played my role in getting a motion passed in the Seanad two years ago. It will happen and other referendums will have to happen. Deputy Madigan's proposal is probably a no-brainer but it will also have to be looked at carefully. We will probably have a series of referendums on a single day.

Although people probably regard the proposal to retain Irish water in public ownership as a no-brainer, people have contacted me to ask if it enshrines charges in the Constitution. People are suspicious of the entire political system and they ask all sorts of obscure questions whenever, for example, a treaty is put forward at European level. People wonder if there is a hidden agenda in putting this forward and I have had to assure them on Facebook that there is not. Let us work together on this in the spirit in which it was brought forward and in which many of us have worked to promote this idea over a number of years, and let us do it properly. We have seen a Government proposal amended in this Oireachtas, when a flaw was spotted in the process of a constitutional referendum. There was toing and froing in the case of the eighth amendment and I am sure Deputy Joan Collins is not happy with the wording that was agreed. There was a history to it, however, so this has to be done really carefully. Nevertheless, we are supportive of the Bill and of retaining water and the sewerage system in public ownership.

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