Gerard Craughwell (Independent) | Oireachtas source

Ninety-eight years after the founding fathers of this country declared the right of the people of Ireland to the ownership of Ireland, we are here pleading with the Minister to call a referendum in order that we can enshrine one tiny part of the ownership of Ireland to the people, and that is water. Water is the single commodity we cannot live without. A lot of people are repeating the same things, but the more I hear going on today, the more I demand that the evidence that this cannot be put to a referendum be brought before the House and made public. This notion that we get legal advice from some person with a wig who can hide behind his gown and never make himself or his opinion known to the people - or worse still, offer an opinion and hide behind anonymity - is totally unacceptable. Somebody made the point that we did not sell off the ESB, which is correct. How many companies are supplying electricity in this country at the moment? How many companies can contract from the ESB and supply electricity? I just had a quick look on the internet and can pick any one of six companies. I can go to uSwitch.ieand pick a company at random. I can do the same for gas, TV and telecommunications.
We keep referring to people as customers. How can I be a customer of something I own? The Minister says he is going to enshrine ownership through a plebiscite, because he cannot flog it off unless the plebiscite is passed. We all accept, and the Minister himself accepts, that a plebiscite has no legal basis whatsoever. I agree it would be a brave Government that would run a plebiscite, win or lose it and then go off and do the opposite thing, but there is absolutely nothing to stop this from happening.
Meters that we do not need have been installed around the country to the tune of €540 million. We are told they will help people control their water usage. I can assure the Minister of State that there will be a meter outside my house in the next few days and it is not going to change one jot the amount of water we use in the house. My wife will still go out and water the garden and I will pick up the cost. It is a nonsense. The Minister has gone off and decided to spend this money when he could have put that €540 million into repairing the system. A flat charge does not in any way inspire or enthuse people to cut down on their water usage.
It strikes me, based on what Senator O'Brien has just said, that there will be insufficient funding from the fixed charge. The fixed charge is already discriminatory, because I am paying €40 a year more than my single neighbour - an extra €20 each for myself and my wife. The bottom line is that the Minister is not going to collect enough money to pay off what he has borrowed, so how is he going to fix the infrastructure? Some smart suit over in Brussels is going to stand up and insist that he bring in competition in order to fund his infrastructure. It is going to happen. They have already forced him to make our electricity system competitive. They will force him to make our water system competitive unless we have something there to protect us.