Gerard Craughwell (Independent) | Oireachtas source

The issue of public ownership is far from certain. Although we asked for a referendum, we were knocked back. Why was there such great opposition to a referendum?

The section asks me to become a revenue collector for Irish Water and submit details of what I do or do not do on my private properties. As Senator Darragh O'Brien said, the Government has stuck the section on the end of a Bill dealing with dog licensing and other matters because it realised the system in place was not going to work and it needed to come back at us another way. If we are going to have a section such as this, let us introduce a Bill that puts all utilities on the same footing, enabling the ESB, Eircom and anybody else who cares to do it to put their hands into my wallet. Why are we ring-fencing Irish Water and making it a special case? It is because the Government has failed to put together a company that is accepted by the people. The 43% who have paid their first instalment will not pay a second instalment. The game is up. The Minister of State should cut the section, go back to the drawing board and start all over again. The Government has made a total mess of it.