David Cullinane (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I move amendment No. 46:

In page 15, between lines 9 and 10, to insert the following:“(5) Irish Water will be subject to the Freedom of Information Acts.”.

This is one of the amendments that we withdrew on Committee Stage and said that we would submit again on Report Stage in the hope that the Minister of State might be able to support it. If I remember correctly, the Minister of State said that the Minister with responsibility for this area was considering this specific issue and that there might be scope for the amendment to be accepted or for the Government to deal with this in some way. I hope that is the case because it is important that Irish Water is subject to freedom of information legislation. After the lengthy discussions we have had on a range of issues and concerns I am sure that lots of freedom of information requests will be submitted.

The Bill will be guillotined at 4 p.m., despite my opposition to it and to the charges. I want to thank the Minister of State for the lengthy discussions and debate we have had and for being so helpful in these debates. We have discussed this for 16 or 17 hours and it is not easy for a Minister of State to sit for 16 or 17 hours and listen to the same debate over and over, any more than it is for us. I thank him now because I may not get a chance to come in again. I hope that he will be able to support the amendment.