Denis Landy (Labour) | Oireachtas source

Following on from my vote this morning, I want to say I support the retention of Irish Water in public ownership. However, I want to put to bed a number of issues with regard to how Irish Water was structured. First, when I stand up here I always defend workers when it is justifiable. In this instance I will defend public service workers. Some 4,000 people transferred to Irish Water from local authorities. I spent almost an hour this morning on the telephone with the chief negotiator on behalf of SIPTU. I want to set out the facts of what happened. This is very important. Many so-called political commentators on the right have maligned these people.