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

I raise the issue of the local authority water service workers again. I have raised it a number of times. I raise it today because there are only three weeks until the Dáil recess and the changing of the guard from the point of view of the Taoiseach and five weeks until the commencement date of the Workplace Relations Commission, WRC, framework plan that affects up to 3,500 workers.

To date, Unite the Union water service workers have rejected the plan by 82%, and 96% of water service workers in the Connect trade union have balloted to take industrial action if the date and wording for a referendum to enshrine the public ownership and management of water and sanitation services in the Constitution are not initiated. They want to keep the full terms and conditions they have with the local authorities. They want honoured their rostered overtime and allowances, which impact their future pensions. They want that red-circled. They want public service status protected. The water service workers in SIPTU and Fórsa have not been balloted, and I hope the Taoiseach will agree that this is a democratic deficit for those workers. They were promised that a referendum would be passed before any transfer of workers to Irish Water and that such a transfer would take place in 2026. In the WRC framework agreement, there is no mention of a referendum and the date has been brought forward by three years to 1 January 2023.

The Minister, Deputy O'Brien, stated in a letter to me that he will bring forward definitive proposals on a referendum on water ownership for consideration early in the new year. That is not good enough. It is too vague and it still kicks the can down the road. We have had too many delays. In November 2018, the then Minister, Eoghan Murphy, announced he was to seek approval for such a referendum. That was two years after the Bill I introduced in 2016, and we are still waiting six years on for that proposal to go to the Cabinet. The Bill was unopposed and the framework plan has been brought forward by three years, from 2026 to 2023. The Bill I proposed on behalf of the huge Right2Water campaign is sitting on Committee Stage. The Taoiseach will be aware of that Bill.

The Taoiseach's party claims to support a referendum, so it should prove it and ensure water and sanitation do not remain in public ownership in name only, with the majority of services outsourced to private companies on long-term contracts. I have seen many Ministers clamour to bring legislation to the Cabinet before the D-day of 17 December. Will the Taoiseach instruct his Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage to bring a wording and the date for a referendum to his Cabinet before 17 December?

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