Alan Kelly (Tipperary North, Labour) | Oireachtas source

Let me finish. It is not necessary and not the route to go down.

I welcome the comments made on the forum. In fairness, Senators of all political colours have said it is a good idea. I very much welcome this, and when we will discuss the section later I will welcome Senators supporting it. All that is in the Bill is the principle of it. The regulations on what will be in the forum will be decided later. It is my intention to make proposals and send them to the joint Oireachtas committee and let it come back to me on it. This is the right and appropriate way to deal with what should be in the forum and what it should discuss.

The forum will not be about constitutional issues. I will come back to the amendment. The forum will be about customers, feedback to Irish Water, Irish Water's capital investment plan, strategies and priorities, and what it is doing wrong and right. Many changes have been made in Irish Water in recent months. There has been a vast improvement with regard to customer feedback and how it deals with customers, and this was necessary. I had to have very difficult conversations with Irish Water. Representatives of Irish Water are in the AV room every week and this is not by accident. There is a new line for Oireachtas Members to call Irish Water.