Joan Collins (Dublin South Central, Independent) | Oireachtas source

Here we are again three years on from the initial introduction of unprogressive water tax. Who would have guessed a political somersault by the soldiers of destiny; surely not? New politics has yet again shown to be the same old business: a war of words in public and a shabby deal behind closed doors. The lessons have not been lost on the people. Fianna Fáil cannot be trusted. These are the people who said in their election material that they would abolish water charges and Irish Water. Comfortably for them, in their confidence and supply deal, they kept Irish Water out of the equation.

Despite these shenanigans, this is not a victory for those who wanted to commodify water as a step to privatisation, though I have got some concerns. If the two parties think they have managed to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat and from the Right2Water movement, they can think again. The changes to the report made over the weekend amount to nothing more than saving face and clutching at straws. Any attempt to use these changes as a backdoor to the reintroduction of charges down the road will be met with even fiercer resistance than in the last three years. The people have their victory and they will not give it up without a fight. However, what this demonstrates is the need to copperfasten that victory. That involves two issues.

One of those issues is the referendum to enshrine public ownership and management of the public water system in the Constitution as per the Bill on this issue moved by myself and other Right2Water Deputies, which is now at Committee Stage. I urge all those who supported the Bill to continue to do so both at Committee Stage and when the Bill comes back to the House for Report Stage. The area I am very concerned about is the commodification of this so-called excessive use of water. The European rules and regulations of the markets allow private companies to come into that market on the basis of that excessive use and the commodification of the water. I am concerned about that and I want to see how that runs through the committee when we are discussing the referendum on this issue.

The other issue is that Irish Water as presently constructed has to go. I will bring in legislation or facilitate any other Deputy's legislation to achieve that when we are debating this in the near future. We need a national water authority with a remit to deal with the scandalous waste of the 47% of treated water. What we do not need is a bloated entity with a bonus culture that has wasted €1 billion on consultants and an unwanted and unnecessary metering programme that it cannot complete.

Some people might be disappointed given that what looked like a resounding victory in the committee's report last week had been watered down by Fianna Fáil's about turn. It beggars belief that a senior counsel who said last week that the report was perfectly legit and within the boundaries of legislation and the water framework directive turned around this week to say that same report is not compliant with the water framework directive. I believe he said it was something to do with a letter he received from Fine Gael. I say to the Minister that that letter to the senior counsel should be produced to every Deputy in the Dáil to see what was written in it. I ask for that to take place.

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