Rónán Mullen (Independent) | Oireachtas source

The problems with the process being used to advance this Bill have been well rehearsed by my colleagues in this House. There are also problems with the content of the Bill. Given that we rely on retired judges and lawyers in many spheres - they are involved in chairing referendum commissions and various other activities - I find it very troubling that they are disqualified from being considered for participation in the proposed judicial appointments commission as lay persons. That is just one of the many flaws I can see in the Bill.

Senator Marie-Louise O'Donnell spoke about "freshwater" and I would like to raise some particular issues regarding the current water shortages. I think the communication of the high-profile hosepipe ban in the greater Dublin area to consumers has been very poor. I believe many people are confused. Some confusing and sometimes contradictory statements have been attributed to representatives of Irish Water, including a suggestion in The Irish Timesthat people should be reluctant to flush their toilets during the current water shortages. I think we should pooh-pooh that suggestion for sure. It says a lot about the so-called progress in improving our water infrastructure that a couple of weeks of fine weather is all it takes to see widespread concern about the availability of water. I say that as somebody who was in favour of water charges and who deplored the hysteria and tribalism that left us in our current circumstances, where there is no incentive to the public to conserve water. The current water shortages are not confined to Dublin, but are also being experienced in the west and the midlands, etc. This raises questions about the proposal to take 330 million litres of water from the Parteen Basin to Dublin each day. Given that water shortages are affecting the country across the board, surely there are questions to be asked about this plan. The proposed pipeline seems to be Irish Water's preferred quick-fix option for solving these problems, rather than the more fundamental work that is needed to repair our water infrastructure. I would appreciate a debate on these matters in early course.