Bríd Smith (Dublin South Central, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

To correct the record, I never once said I support Irish Water. I will clarify my position for the Minister. The reason I am on my feet is that I fully support the staff who were seconded from the local authorities to work for Irish Water. I take my hat off to them and to their expertise, skill and commitment as well as their ability to deal with problems at a local level with which they are so familiar because they have spent years working on water services. We treat those workers badly or diss them at our peril.

The Minister stated there is a form of consultation and dialogue taking place. It is shoving this down the throats of workers to have a complex service level agreement renegotiated within three months when they only heard about it last week. That is not dialogue or consultation. There needs to be an absolute guarantee in respect of their conditions, pensions, work and who they work for. Do they work for the public service or will they work for some PPP entity called Irish Water in future? The Minister did not comment on the privatised, back-door nature of what the Government is attempting to do here.

Shame on the Government that its members have not been informed of the report. The Minister, who has an adviser seated beside him, should read the report. It states that the workers who have been seconded to Irish Water are an invaluable asset to this project. We will try to mess them about or take away their terms and conditions at our peril. Will the Minister comment on the issue of privatisation by the back door?

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