David Cullinane (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the last comment made by the Minister, because essentially this is what we have been seeking for some time. It is a pity it was not done months ago. If it had been done and the Minister had such discussions with his Cabinet colleagues we might be in a very different position whereby the Minister would be bringing forward a Government amendment which established a mini-constitutional convention which would have allowed us discuss how we would hold a constitutional referendum on this issue. This is the point we have been making for the past six or seven hours. This is exactly where we want to be with regard to all of the complexity involved and the potential unintended consequences about which the Minister spoke earlier. I do not know whether the Minister has just made a genuine offer. It has struck me that up to now the Government has not been interested in ever holding a constitutional referendum prior to any intention to sell privatise Irish water.

I accept the forum may not be the best body to make such a recommendation.

What the amendment calls for is not a binding recommendation on the Government, but that the forum would "consider" and then "recommend", and like the Constitutional Convention, the Government could then accept the recommendation or not.

It is regrettable that we are in a situation where we have now, at the eleventh hour, had an offer from the Minister to go back to his Cabinet colleagues. It is never too late.