Marie Louise O'Donnell (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister. I think we should pay for water and we should pay for it when it is fair and when it is just. However, we should only pay for water when it is entirely and distinctly our own in perpetuity. It is interesting that we were never taught the words "preserve", "purify" and "supply"; we were taught the words "install" and "meter". I wonder what Irish Water was paying its PR company for that mistake. Water is number one. It is not just a right to life; it is life. We are all 60% water; our hearts are 73% water; our lungs are 83% water; and everything we eat is 93% water. So water is life; without it we cannot exist. There is nothing to compare to it. All those arguments that if we enshrine it in the Constitution, other things will get enshrined with it are puerile and facile. It is the only thing; it is liquid gold.

The World Bank has privatised water in hundreds of countries in exchange for loans. Nestlé bottles African water and calls it "Pure Life". Imagine privatising pure life.