Thomas Byrne (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

They will have to be addressed by the Committee on Procedure and Privileges.

There is nonsense on the Order of Business every day, and there is more nonsense in the way in which we deal with environmental legislation. We oppose this Bill because it is utterly ludicrous. The Government made a hames of water charges over many years. This is the fourth or fifth Bill dealing with Irish Water, and there were many changes in the meantime. This legislation will create a new customer database, make housing associations liable for charges, allow unpaid bills to be taken from the proceeds of house sales and place the burden for charges on tenants rather than landlords. Instead of allowing an open debate on these provisions in the Dáil, they were squeezed into a Report Stage debate before being sent to the Seanad. While the Seanad plays a crucial part of the legislative process, the Dáil is the House of elected representatives of the people. That House is where the substantive debate on Second Stage of this Bill should have taken place. That in itself is a reason to oppose the Bill. We should be jealous of our parliamentary system and protective of our democracy at all costs rather than abuse it in the manner adopted by this Government.

Irish Water was misconceived from the start. It was a Fine Gael idea which the Labour Party took on board with relish. The transformation of that formerly important party is an extraordinary sight to behold. A party that once had its own distinctive voice has become merely the implementer of ideas it previously regarded as anathema. I will be opposing this Bill and I am glad that my party and other colleagues will also oppose it.