Joan Collins (Dublin South Central, Independents 4 Change) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister. I have had a lot of contact and discussions with the workers involved. They have told me they will resist in every way they can being railroaded into an agreement without a vote, a guarantee of their public service status and a referendum. They will not accept it.

The Thirty-fifth Amendment of the Constitution (Water in Public Ownership) (No. 2) Bill 2016, proposes that: "The Government shall be collectively responsible for the protection, management and maintenance of the public water system.", and that this be inserted into Article 28.4.2° of the Constitution. This Bill is in line with the recommendations of the expert commission on domestic water services and a special Oireachtas Joint Committee on Future Funding of Domestic Water Services. It is supported by the Right2Water unions, Unite, the Communications Workers Union, CWU, Mandate and the Operating Plasterers and Allied Trades Society of Ireland, OPATSI. It is supported by the Irish Congress of Trade Unions, which represents 600,000 members. It is supported by thousands upon thousands of people who were on the streets during the Right2Water campaign. It is supported by parties in the Dáil who supported the Right2Water campaign, including some members of the Government who, in 2018, declared they would support the thirty-fifth amendment Bill. If the Minister cannot give me a date today, will he assure me that the relevant Minister will announce the wording of a referendum, and a date for it, to protect our water service from privatisation within the next two weeks?

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