Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

The argument here is not that the Committee of Public Accounts should not have the role prescribed in the legislation. I think we all support that. It is a very good thing. For all the criticisms many of us have of Irish Water, it has also made itself available to our committee regularly and in very detailed form. That is not the question I am asking. The makeup of the Water Advisory Body is very different. It includes a range of people. If the Minister of State has decided on this course of action, how does he propose that those people, organisations and interests that will no longer be part of any of the accountability architecture alongside Uisce Éireann now engage with this process? This is not an either-or - one or the other. I am nervous we are losing something valuable. Has there been any discussion about whether they have some other mechanism to participate in an ongoing structured consultation as opposed to individual consultations?

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