Paul Murphy Demands Referendum to Keep Irish Water Public
Paul Murphy spoke in the Dáil on 9 Nov 2022, arguing that promises to enshrine public ownership of water have not been honoured and demanding a referendum to protect Irish Water from privatisation. He criticised government assurances, warned that existing legislation can be amended without a referendum, and highlighted outsourcing and contracts that he says amount to de facto privatisation.
Demand for a referendum
Paul Murphy insisted the central question is when a referendum will be held to guarantee public ownership of Irish Water. He said previous verbal commitments from the minister and the Taoiseach have not resulted in published wording or a date, despite repeated promises to hold a referendum.
Concerns about privatisation and outsourcing
He warned that legislation such as the Water Services Act 2014 can be amended without a referendum and criticised widespread outsourcing, including design-build-operate contracts, as effectively privatising water services from the ground up. He accused the Government of attempting to push privatisation through the back door while publicly pledging public ownership.
Broken promises to water workers
Murphy highlighted the plight of water workers who transferred to Irish Water on the assurance a referendum would be held to protect public ownership. He said that promise has not been kept and that workers are right to fight to protect their terms and conditions and to demand a binding referendum.
Public opposition and the history of water charges
He recalled the mass non-payment campaign and said the opposition to water charges remains strong, noting that 73% of people refused to pay during the movement. Murphy argued the water charges episode was part of a process to commodify water ahead of privatisation and said public pressure must be revived to force a referendum.
Investment and infrastructure concerns
Murphy stressed that the country still lacks proper water infrastructure and disputed the claim that charges are the reason for underinvestment. He argued repeated government refusal to invest, not the absence of charges, is to blame and called for public ownership to be matched by genuine investment in systems and services.
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I was listening to Minister Noonan earlier, when I was upstairs in the office, and it was like watching Reeling in the Ears. It was all the old hits, all the old propaganda about how the Irish Government is committed to public ownership of water. He reeled out the fact that, don't worry, there can't possibly be any privatisation of Irish water, because it's there in the legislation, Water Services Act 2014. He didn't mention, of course, that that legislation can just be amended, without a referendum. The Government come in here, after the next election, committed to privatisation, as I believe Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael in reality are still committed to privatisation. Change that, and then the requirement for a referendum is gone, without the need for any referendum. All the talk about the commitment to public ownership, without mentioning the reality of wide-scale outsourcing throughout Irish water, without mentioning all the design, build and operate contracts, which effectively amount to privatisation from the ground level up. But most sickeningly, we re here because of a request originally by Deputy Collins, for some reason, Joan Burton is in my mind, I apologise very sincerely. Deputy Collins, and because of a request about talking about the need for a referendum on water. And what we got from the Minister, was we got told that he, the Minister, Darragh O'Brien, looks forward to definitively addressing the referendum in the near while. That's great. We are having a debate about the future of water services now. We have had commitments for referendums, on and on and on, and yet here we go, we are having a debate about it, and we have no commitment. So the question really is, where is our referendum on water? We have been waiting for six years. Six months ago, the Minister promised that there will be a referendum this year or early next year. Where is the referendum? We are only a handful of weeks away from the next Dáil recess, when the Dáil will be off for another full month. Why is the Government continuing to try to push through privatisation through the back door, which is already happening in terms of how Irish Water operates, it is outsourcing to private companies. That means that large parts of our water infrastructure are already being run on a for-profit basis. Officially, we are actually meant to be getting bills for excess usage of water next year. They were originally meant to start in 2019, but as a result of the mass opposition, we have managed to delay them, but clearly the Government would like to come back to them. But just as the threat hasn't gone away, the opposition of the water charges movement will also not go away. That is the position of the vast majority of people in this country, and the Government knows it. The other reason that we are here today is because of the resistance of the water workers. The water workers who are being faced with transferring over to Irish Water, who are also given a promise. A promise that before they transferred, there would be a referendum to ensure that Irish Water could not be privatised. And they have been sold out on that promise by the Government. That promise has not been kept. We have no wording and we have no date. So the workers are absolutely correct to fight, to protect their terms and conditions, and to demand a referendum on public ownership of Irish Water. It is great to see that a number of unions have come out to launch the Keep It Public campaign, to demand a date for a referendum to enshrine Irish Water in public ownership. I think it is also important that we talk about the question of the wording. Deputy Collins brought forward wording six years ago at this stage, which had very clear wording, which would ensure that you could have no future privatisation of our water services. I sat in multiple committee meetings with Deputy Collins, where the Government came up with this and that and the other reason to oppose it. But the Government has refused to come forward with their own wording, so far, and when the Taoiseach has been questioned on this in the Dáil, he has been incredibly slippery, using language around the idea of keeping the resources and public ownership and so on, in ways that make me think that whatever wording, if you are ultimately forced to give a date, that the wording you will come up with will be effectively meaningless. Because you do not want to have a referendum to enshrine water in public ownership, because the clear policy preference, openly declared and so on, of Fianna Fáil and Fianna Gael is ultimately for privatisation of our water. That is what the water charges were for, about commodifying our water in order for privatisation later down the road. I think that the water workers are absolutely right to fight the fight that they are fighting, which is a crucial part of which is to demand a referendum. And I think the public, which fought so heroically, which engaged in mass non-payments, 73% of people refusing to pay, they need to watch this now. Because the Government may hope, OK, the attention has gone off, we just forget about the referendum, we won't give it. That is why public pressure is going to be brought to bear, demand a referendum, demand that we have water fully in public ownership, and demand that then the investment is put in place to actually ensure we have proper water infrastructure in this country, because we still do not have it. That is not because we do not have water charges, because it is the same level of investment that we would have had if we did have water charges, it is because of a repeated refusal to invest in vital infrastructure. That is why public pressure is going to be put in place to be put in place to be put in place to be put in place to be put in place to be put in place to be put in place to be put in place to be put in place to be put in place to be put in place to be put in place to be put in place to be put in place to be put in place to be put in place to be put in place to be put in place to be put in place to be put in place to be put in place to be put in place to be put in place to be put in place to be put in place.
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