Thomas Byrne (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

The ESB is in State control, but there but there are also private generators of energy and private extractors of natural resources throughout the country, and that is as it should be. It was a bit disingenuous of the Minister to read partially from Article 10 of the Constitution. He said that we all know what is in Article 10 without reading the entirety of it. What is needed is an amendment to Article 10 of the Constitution which would protect Irish Water.

The Minister and Senator Gilroy also made great play of property rights. Of course, property rights are not absolute, but they made an issue of wayleaves and pipework going through private land and how that would affect us. In fact, Irish Water - it was the local authorities previously - owns the sewerage pipes. The private landowner does not. It has a wayleave or a right of way through that land. These are the rights we want to protect in public ownership, the rights we do not want sold to the highest bidder and the rights we do not want somebody in the private sector to be able put a toll on to allow sewage to go through or water to flow to people's houses. Those pipes are not in private ownership; they are already subject to the rights that Irish Water has. That argument about property rights is bogus. It is the property and assets of Irish Water that we want to protect, not just the shares in the company that is Irish Water, for which the Act provides. It is the assets - the pipes, the treatment plants and access to people's homes - that we do not want sold. That is what we do not want to happen. This section does not provide for that in any way. It is a minimalist approach.

The Minister spoke about the difficulties and possibilities presented by referendums and the reasons we should not hold a referendum, but these reasons would also apply to the holding of a plebiscite. It would be exactly the same, except that at least with a referendum something is put into the Constitution. Those are the points to which I wanted to respond.