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

A number of local authority water service workers were in the Gallery this afternoon, one of whom, Anthony, is still here. A couple of them had to leave to work the late shift. These are the workers with serious concerns about their jobs, working conditions, pay and future pension entitlements. It would be good if they could at least get some straight answers from the Minister and Government to the questions they have. A key question relates to the issue of a referendum to enshrine public ownership of water and sanitation services in the Constitution. They were promised such a referendum would be passed before any transfer of workers to Irish Water would take place. Such a transfer was supposed to take place in 2026. In the framework agreement agreed by the four unions involved and the Government at the Workplace Relations Commission, there is no mention of a referendum and a date for transfer has been brought forward by three years to January 2023, which is only a few weeks away.

On 8 November 2016, six years ago yesterday, I moved the Thirty-fifth Amendment of the Constitution (Water in Public Ownership) (No. 2) Bill 2016. It set out the wording for a referendum and was agreed, supported and signed by right to water parties, the Right2Water campaign, the unions and the thousands of people on the streets. That wording did not just deal with ownership but public management of water sanitation services inserted into Article 28.4.2.1° of the Constitution which deals with the responsibilities of the State. We do not want to place this text in the rights-based section of the Constitution where a human right to water may be in conflict with the ownership of our water system by some Irish oligarch or international vulture fund and some Supreme Court judge may decide whose right is sacrosanct. We need the amendment placed in the governance section of the Constitution.

The Bill was unopposed in 2016. Fianna Fáil supported it. It had the unanimous support of the Dáil on First Stage but has now been buried for six years on Committee Stage by the committee. In those six years, we have had three Ministers, two of whom were Fine Gael and one of whom was Fianna Fáil, and the current Minister. The committee is controlled by Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael. I have written six times since 2020 for the legislation to be brought before the committee and I have been told every time that there is no time. Maybe another six years will be needed before anything happens.

It would be good if the Minister gave an unequivocal statement of his intentions. There is no mention of a referendum in the proposed legislation on waste services. Will he give a date for the referendum as opposed to a vague commitment? Will he give an indication of the proposed wording and where it is to be inserted in the Constitution? This is important to ensure water does not remain in public ownership in name only, with the majority of services outsourced to private companies.

I welcome that four trade unions have launched a campaign for a referendum date. It would also be useful if Fine Gael clarified its position. Both the Tánaiste and the Senator Barry Ward of Fine Gael have stated in recent interviews that they do not think such a referendum is necessary. The dishonesty of not opposing my Bill in open debate and killing it on Committee Stage speaks volumes. Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and, indeed, the Green Party cannot be trusted on this issue.

I received a letter from the Minister today in which he stated he was happy to confirm he would bring forward definitive proposals on a referendum on water ownership for consideration by Government early in the new year. That is too late. January 2023 is when these workers are expected to transfer into Irish Water. It is not on. We need the date beforehand and we need wording. The position is too vague. The workers are calling for a referendum. They are calling for wording that states water and water services are to remain in public ownership. Terms and conditions of local authority water workers do not include allowances and regular and restored overtime. Allowances, rostered overtime and an on-call allowance must be red circled in the water framework document.

A worker's pensionable allowances of two and a half hours per week is €87.55, drainage allowance per week is €53 and on-call allowance is €86. The worker's total loss per year is €11,782 and the total loss when the worker retires will be €188,522.88 before tax. A worker has made the point with regard to rostered overtime allowance that no other grades are impacted. It will take him 16 years to accumulate these earnings while some politicians and staff of Uisce Éireann earn this amount in one year. These pensionable overtime allowances have to be red circled for these unions.

The Local Government Management Agency, LGMA, is wishy-washy on this matter. In a recent letter, it stated that, with a view to ensuring that further detail and comfort is provided with regard to how individual circumstances can be addressed at local level, noting that the range of local variations and individual commitments across various local authorities brings a level of complexity that cannot be addressed centrally. This has to be red circled for those workers.

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