David Cullinane (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

If we want an absolutely watertight guarantee that our water infrastructure and services will never be privatised, then we need to have a constitutional amendment, not a plebiscite.

It is inevitable that a dynamic will be created once the charge is introduced. When a service is provided free at the point of delivery, funded by progressive taxation, it cannot be privatised, as there is no incentive for anyone to buy it. Once charging starts - once water is commodified - in time, the dynamic changes. That is when the political approach will also change, with huge pressure brought to bear. Then we will hear that we need competition and it is a slippery slope. We have seen this in all the countries that have introduced water charges. One only has to look at Britain, where water services have been privatised because the concept of charges was introduced.

Senator Darragh O’Brien is right that the Minister will no longer be a Minister in two years’ time.