Brian Ó Domhnaill (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I support the call made by my colleague, Senator Darragh O'Brien, for legislation to be drafted to provide for a referendum to enshrine the entity known as Irish Water into the ownership of the Irish people. We are dealing with the supply of water, which can be defined as a public good or as a necessity. I am not sure whether it would be known as a public good in economic terms. According to the World Health Organization, for the existence of human life an individual needs access to between 50 and 100 litres of water each day. In 2002, the United Nations prepared a document which outlined that water is a basic necessity for human life. If we accept that, surely we have to make sure the entity charged with drawing up a pricing policy and controlling this basic necessity for human life cannot be allowed to be sold. We cannot allow venture capitalists to come in with private equity to fund the resource or the company known as Irish Water. I know Sinn Féin has proposed this. If there are shareholders coming into a company, the shareholders are going to dictate the terms. They will seek profit, which will involve screwing the customers.