Tommy Broughan (Dublin Bay North, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank the House for the opportunity to speak briefly on my colleague Deputy Collins’ important Private Member's Bill, the Thirty-fifth Amendment of the Constitution (Water in Public Ownership) (No. 2) Bill 2016. I warmly congratulate Deputy Collins on her great perseverance and determination in bringing forward the Bill to ensure that the national water supply and infrastructure will remain forever, as the amendment would provide, in public ownership and management. Deputy Collins was a leading candidate who stood on the Right2Change platform in the February general election. A key commitment of that platform, supported outstandingly by the Mandate and Unite trade unions, was to abolish water taxes and ensure through a referendum that our water services infrastructure remains always in the ownership of the Irish people. I am proud to stand beside Deputy Collins on the Right2Change programme and am delighted that her Bill to amend the Constitution will, hopefully, be accepted by Dáil Éireann this week.

As a Right2Change elected representative, I have always strongly opposed water taxes and charges. I have supported the Right2Water campaign since it sprung from our communities. The people-powered Right2Water campaign against water charges and taxes is powerfully based in my constituency of Dublin Bay North. Valiant campaign groups throughout Dublin Bay North, such as Ayrfield Says No, Edenmore Says No, Clare Hall Says No and Raheny, Darndale and Coolock Say No, led the struggle against metering and the refusal to accept water taxes on already hard-pressed households. Hopefully, the final abolition of those taxes will be given a huge boost by the adoption here today of the Thirty-fifth Amendment of the Constitution (Water in Public Ownership) (No. 2) Bill 2016.

Many of us here, including some so-called Independent members of Government, were elected by the people on an anti-water charges platform. I have never heard any of our 158 Deputies express a desire to privatise water though many have been complicit by setting up the structures, in particular Irish Water itself, and allowing it to become more possible via the establishment of that national company and the installation of meters.

I am aware that the expert commission on domestic public water services is said to be currently examining the future funding models for water provision and the commission is due to present to the special Oireachtas committee by the end of this month. However, the work of the commission is only another exercise in kicking the can down the road, which is so typical of this minority Government. Its terms of reference are restrictive and unclear. In reality, it is another device to frustrate the will of the people so clearly expressed in the general election, which is that they want water taxes on households abolished and our water services infrastructure retained forever in public ownership.

Deputy Collins’ Bill amending article 28 of the Constitution is a simple yet important Bill. The Bill would allow us to put the question to the people via a referendum on whether or not they want to protect and maintain our national water supply infrastructure, a vital natural resource, in public ownership and management and whether or not they want us to ensure that future generations will not have to worry about water being turned into a commodity and privatised. There seems absolutely no reason for any Member of the House to vote against such a modest yet critical proposal. The electorate will overwhelmingly vote in favour of keeping water in public ownership once this Bill progresses through the Oireachtas and we have the referendum. Even the small number of those who were not opposed to water charges would be opposed to the possibility of our water becoming a commodity and a cost for households. A poll earlier this week by journal.ieshowed how profoundly opposed the Irish people are to any privatisation of our public water system.

Privatisation of water services in many countries has been a total disaster. The Thatcher era saw water being privatised in the UK in 1989, a move that has produced ongoing problems and controversy. When such a vital resource is commodified, it leads to cut-offs for non-payment, a practice the English had to bring to an end with the introduction of legislation in the 1990s, as well as increasing prices and tariffs and massively growing profits. In the UK, water charges increased nearly 50% in real terms in the first decade of privatisation.

In the same period, the operating profits of companies such as Anglia Water, which did some work for Dublin City Council and other local authorities, and Scottish Water increased by nearly 150%. Above all, investment suffered following privatisation. The so-called water regulator in Britain, OFWAT, has been severely criticised, especially for allowing the United Kingdom's sewer network to be run down without investment in refurbishment. As The Guardiannewspaper reported last year, there has been a strong kickback against privatisation of water, not only in OECD countries but across the world from Buenos Aires to Berlin.

Since the disastrous privatisation of water in other jurisdictions includes public private partnerships, management and lease contracts, it is important that Deputy Joan Collins's constitutional amendment includes a reference to "the protection, management and maintenance of the public water system" and that all of these elements of the national water system remain in public ownership and public management.

I commend my colleague, Deputy Joan Collins, on bringing this important Bill before the House. I am pleased to support it and welcome that it is unlikely to be opposed by the Government or Fianna Fáil Party. I urge the Government to ensure it passes as soon as possible.

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