Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy for raising this very important issue. Transfers to Irish Water of water services workers under the framework for future delivery of water services, which was identified, as the Deputy will know, at the Workplace Relations Commission on 24 June of this year, are voluntary. Every worker will have the option of staying with his or her local authority, and transfers will happen over a four-year period, from 2023 to 2026, inclusive. The Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage hosted parallel engagement with the unions on a number of policy matters of relevance to staff in the context of the water transformation programme, including a referendum on water ownership.

A paper entitled Irish Water Transformation: The Wider Policy Context was shared with the unions in July of this year to reflect the engagement outcomes. That paper set out the planned approach to bring forward a referendum proposal on water ownership for consideration by the Government in conjunction with the anticipated recommendation of a proposed referendum on housing from the Housing Commission. In that way it is intended that definitive proposals, including timelines for referendums on water and housing, in line with the commitments given in the programme for Government, will be considered by the Government in the near future. I hope we will have recommendations by the end of the year in order that the Minister will be in the position to act on this early in the new year.

In that context the process that has been entered into is a positive one, and the policy paper reflected all of that in respect of Irish Water separating from the Ervia group during 2023.

The Water Services (Amendment) (No. 2) Bill is due to conclude in the Oireachtas on Thursday. Seanad Report and Final Stages will provide for the separation. Irish Water will then integrate the day-to-day operations in the delivery of water services into its own organisational structures in place of the current service level agreements. In many ways, that will make for a better delivery of water services.

The referendum has been committed to. The Housing Commission is working on those issues. During the debates in the House and so on, we acknowledged that the constitutional referendum emerged as a key concern. The Government intends to act on that with legislation. The Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage, Deputy Darragh O'Brien, has signalled his willingness to support that referendum on the ownership of water and to hold it in conjunction with a referendum on housing once the recommendation from the Housing Commission comes forward, hopefully towards the end of the year.

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