Thomas Byrne (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I argued trenchantly a few days ago for giving the forum another task, but I was only using the forum because it was an available device within the legislation. It is extremely weak. What greatly concerns me about the legislation in general is the Minister's extremely broad powers to regulate various matters including, in this case, the membership of the forum. The Minister is giving himself sole authority to decide who or what becomes a member of the forum. That is wrong. We should be legislating for that. In fairness, in its amendment Sinn Féin has gone part of the way towards legislating for the type of person it would wish to see on the forum. There could be others.

There is no provision for any financial support to the forum. An ordinary citizen is expected to make their way from west Cork or other far flung parts of the country at their own expense. I do not know if the Minister proposes to make a change to that. The people who cannot afford to pay for water will not be able to afford to become members of this forum. We are not talking about salaries but about ensuring that people will be able to travel.