Conor McGuinness (Waterford, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I sat in this Chamber last night and watched the Minister of State's colleagues in Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and those in the Lowry Independents group vote against a Sinn Féin Bill that would have permanently banned water charges. In my few short months in this House I have seen Minister after Minister duck questions about a referendum on the public ownership of water. Water must be protected as a public good in our Constitution.

The crisis in our water services is not just a national scandal, it is a daily reality for families and businesses across Waterford. Uisce Éireann's failures are a direct result of the neglect, underfunding and refusal to take accountability by this Government and its predecessors, especially in rural towns and rural areas.

We see it in my constituency in Lismore, with its outdated and crumbling water supply, and in Bunmahon's inadequate sewerage system. I could give the Minister of State a litany of similar failures across Waterford. I imagine colleagues across this House could do the same for their own constituencies.

Homes, businesses and schools are frequently left without water with no notice. Water quality is often impacted. Sewerage systems are gone far beyond capacity. House building is being delayed in towns, villages and rural areas in the State. In Waterford, we have seen boil water notices, ageing infrastructure, and treatment plants operating beyond what they can manage.

Families cannot trust what comes out of their taps. The Government claims it supports investment but the truth is stark: Uisce Éireann does not have the capital funding needed to fix these problems. It has begged for more resources, but the Government refuses to commit. Meanwhile, planning delays caused by chronic understaffing are holding up vital projects. This is not incompetence, it is a choice.

Let us be clear: Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil have still not abandoned their obsession with water charges. That is why we need a referendum to finally take water services out of private hands and keep them in public ownership. We must ensure there is proper funding for Uisce Éireann to end capacity constraints. We must invest more in infrastructure.

This is the Government's chance. We must have a statutory requirement for transparency, including regular reporting to councils and the Oireachtas. I say this as a public representative who has experience here in this Chamber and as a councillor. The level of engagement and democratic oversight is simply not there with Uisce Éireann.

We need to see an end to planning bottlenecks and the proper resourcing of An Bord Pleanála and Uisce Éireann. We also need to hold the referendum and, as part of this debate, I ask the Minister of State to commit to that. The Government has left Uisce Éireann underresourced, unaccountable and unable to deliver.

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