David Cullinane (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I agree that the best way to do it would be in a straight vote of the people, but, unfortunately, we are not going to get this because the Minister has refused to hold a constitutional referendum on the issue. That is a clear contradiction of what he said in the past five hours. I wish the people will have a say, but, unfortunately, they will not if any future Government is minded to do so. We have discussed this issue ad nauseamand know the reality. In the first instance, there would have to be a situation where a Government would be of a mind to privatise the service. Second, the people would have their say in a plebiscite. Taking this at face value and discarding the notion that any future Government would be of a mind to privatise water services would not in any way dilute or repeal section 2, why will the Minister not consider including a resolution of each House of the Oireachtas as also being required? That would be a good development because the Seanad and the Dáil should have their say and it would introduce several locks. What about local authorities? They always seem to be forgotten. We are taking more power from them. We gave them powers to nominate candidates to become President.