Brian Ó Domhnaill (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the amendment because it makes sense.

Sinn Féin wants to widen the membership of the forum because it wants people in different income brackets to be represented and to have a wide church of opinion on the forum, whether specialised or from various income brackets which is a wise move. Such direction should be given to the Minister given the history of the debacle over Irish Water and the manner in which that has been handled heretofore. The handling of Irish Water has even been condemned by the members of Government parties and no one can argue with the fact that the debacle has persisted since its initiation here in 2013.

The objectives of the forum are central to the role of members and are defined in section 7(5). It includes dealing with the investment issue, the delivery of the investment programme and the service standards in a more structured way.

We know what the investment programme for Irish Water is because the Commission for Energy Regulation has stated it will be around €2 billion expenditure over the next two years which is a substantial amount of money. At this stage it would appear that all of that money shall come from the taxpayer or user charges. Unless there is a white knight who shall provide Irish Water with money, and despite what the Minister may assure us, I do not think the established model will attract private investment from the markets. Perhaps the Minister will outline the manner in which the investment programme, for which forum members are responsible for, will be funded. How will the money be raised over the next two years and where will it come from? I want the Minister to answer my question because it is relevant to my questions on the responsibility of forum members.

As Senator Mooney has outlined, there can be between 12 and 60 forum members which is quite a large number. Also, the Minister can appoint a chairman of the forum. That means there is a total joined up approach between the forum's input to the process and where the Minister is coming from on the day. It is wrong that there are no clear boundaries between the independent forum and the Minister.