David Norris (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I am not as susceptible to the Cathaoirleach's blandishments as Senator Mooney is. I propose an amendment to the Order of Business because I do not want to take all Stages of this Bill and I do not give a damn what agreements were reached before now. I feel strongly about this because I was listening to the radio in my car on my way in and I heard how this Bill had been stuffed through the Dáil and would sail through the Seanad. It is a responsibility of ours to give it as rough a passage as possible. Let us make the weather a little less clement for the Government parties regarding this utterly disgraceful legislation, under which they presume to take onto themselves the right to tear up agreements and the right to punish individual members of unions who dared to exercise their democratic vote. What is happening to democracy in this country?

There is an increasing concentration of power in the Government and it is treating not only this House but also the Dáil as a rubber stamp. We learned the other day that the Taoiseach has commissioned a little mini-rubber-stamp for his little mini-committee, which will be a mini-Seanad or yellow-pack version of the House. This was the brainchild of some anonymous public servant. Will the Leader give the House the name of this person who is apparently in the ruling golden circle? There will not be much opposition from that shower if they ever take over the functions of this country. Thirty amendments were ruled out of order yesterday in the Dáil. Every type of ridiculous excuse is being found to throw out amendments and stamp out discussion. It is up to this House to stand firm and at least make sure there is a degree of protest against these violations of democracy.

I refer to the issue of water metering. A motion on planning and regulation will be put to the House without debate. This is one of the serious issues that the passage of the legislation creating Irish Water has brought to the fore. When water services were co-ordinated through local authorities such as Dublin City Council, there were clear responsibilities in planning to take into account the question of providing water resources and so on. I reiterate what I said when the Bill was going through the House. Could we at least have a semblance of joined-up thinking from the Government parties? They have given this function to Bord Gáis, which is a bad idea, but at least it is a utility. Will Bord Gáis, for God's sake, not have a little sense and install its own remote readable meters as well? Why can electricity, water and gas not all be done at the same time? Let us do something adult and mature for once.

I wish to raise the issue of the Royal College of Surgeons and Bahrain. It is quite extraordinary that there has not been a visit by the medical-----