Victor Boyhan (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I refer first to the National Treatment Purchase Fund, NTPF. I saw some NTPF staff seated downstairs in the LH2000 building earlier. Perhaps they were due to attend a meeting of a joint committee. The public outpatient waiting list for consultants was published in the national newspapers today. More than 511,000 people are awaiting treatment, which is extremely disappointing. I will not be exclusively critical and ask Senators to hear me out. We have a major crisis. The latest NTPF figures have been published today and the NTPF has confirmed that number of people waiting for treatment has increased by 4,000 since its previous report was published in April. It is interesting to note that 80,000 of those waiting for treatment have been waiting for more than 18 months. Large numbers of people need treatment. This is a difficult issue and my main concern is that 16,255 children await special paediatric services.

It would be remiss of me not to mention the NTPF figures. They are disappointing and require action. Having made some inquiries, I received a note confirming that €55 million was made available to the National Treatment Purchase Fund to tackle these issues last April, which is welcome. I suggest that the Leader arranges, perhaps in a month or two or even in September, a debate on this issue. We must monitor the situation and I ask Senators who are members of the Joint Committee on Health to raise this matter with the NTPF staff if they are before the committee today.

On the local boundaries commission, I have no doubt yesterday's figures on the new boundaries are legitimate and independent. We should implement the suggestion made by a former joint committee dealing with the environment and local government to establish an independent electoral commission to oversee elections and referenda and promote engagement with the political process. It will be important to do this at some point in the future.

This morning, an delegation of 18 officials from the Irish Congress of Trade Unions attended a meeting of the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government. The issue ICTU asked us to pursue relates to Irish Water. ICTU made the following statement.

We believe there is broad public support for the holding of a constitutional referendum to prevent the future privatisation of the public water system. We note that the Minister has confirmed that he is willing to facilitate such holding of a referendum. We understand that a Bill to give effect to the holding of a referendum is currently under consideration. We would urge all parties to co-operate and ensure that this referendum is held as soon as possible.

Is there a plan to hold a referendum on the privatisation of Irish Water within the next year?