Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I disagree with Deputy Collins's analysis of this. Irish Water is no longer a commercial entity. It requires a subvention from the taxpayer of €1 billion a year just to exist. Who is going to buy that? Nobody is. There are no plans and no realistic possibility of there being any privatisation of public water services in the future. The referenda which we have given an indicative schedule for are those which will actually make a difference to people's lives. It may be a minor difference in some cases, for example, ending the prohibition on blasphemy. In other cases the difference could be very significant, such as allowing people to get divorced more quickly. I do not see how this water referendum would make a blind bit of difference because Irish Water is quite simply not a commercial entity and there is no possibility of it being privatised.

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