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

The Thirty-fifth Amendment of the Constitution (Water in Public Ownership) (No. 2) Bill 2016 passed Second Stage without any opposition last November. It seeks to enshrine ownership and management of our public water system in the Constitution by way of a referendum. The Taoiseach has outlined a programme of seven referenda over the next year or so but there is no mention of a referendum on water. The former Minister for Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government, Deputy Simon Coveney, is on record as being in favour of a referendum and the current Minister, Deputy Eoghan Murphy, has indicated to me informally that he would also be in favour of such a referendum. In my view there is widespread support for such a referendum. One of the main factors behind the opposition to water charges was the belief that paying for water would eventually lead to privatisation in the future. The expert group on water charges, despite having no remit on the issue, took the unprecedented step of including in its report a recommendation for a referendum, given that virtually every submission made to it raised this issue.

That recommendation was reiterated in the report of the Joint Oireachtas Committee on the Future Funding of Domestic Water Services. The Bill has been sitting in scrutiny for nearly a year now while the Minister responsible awaits advice from the Attorney General. This is because of some concern over the private group schemes and over wells on private land. My legal adviser, Séamus Ó Tuathail SC, spoke at the committee and stated that there is a clear distinction between the public and private water systems and that the Bill makes it clear that it refers only to the former. If the Attorney General has concerns, however, I am sure that these could be met through the appropriate wording of the Bill.

My real concern is that there is a Government strategy, possibly supported by Fianna Fáil, to let this Bill sit in committee and wither and die. I ask the Taoiseach to give a commitment that this is not the case; to acknowledge that the Attorney General has had considerable time to scrutinise the legislation; to move amendments on Committee Stage proper so that they can be scrutinised; to send the Bill back here for final Stages; and to set a date for the referendum.

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