Paul Murphy presses for referendum date on public ownership of water
Paul Murphy challenged the Taoiseach over when a promised referendum will enshrine water in public ownership, arguing workers need a clear date and guarantee. He warned that Deputy Collins's bill has been stalled for six years and that staff transferring to Irish Water fear future privatisation.
Demand for a referendum date
Paul Murphy demanded a concrete date for the referendum on public ownership of water, saying workers due to transfer from councils to Irish Water on 1 January need assurance now rather than vague timelines. He stressed workers have no guarantee Irish Water won't be privatised in future without a constitutional referendum.
Delay in Deputy Collins's bill
Murphy noted it has been six years since Deputy Collins first introduced her bill to enshrine water in public ownership and said the bill has been deliberately bogged down in committee. He contrasted that delay with past government promises that a referendum would follow the mass movement that defeated water charges.
Government response on ownership and timing
The Taoiseach acknowledged significant progress in cementing the public ownership dimension of Irish Water and said the state is the shareholder and the resource remains state-owned. The Taoiseach and the minister indicated a commitment to a referendum on ownership, and attributed timing issues in part to disruptions such as two years of COVID.
Concerns of water workers and transfer
Murphy highlighted that workers transferring to Irish Water view the company as a semi-state now but fear it could be privatised later unless the public ownership question is settled by referendum. He argued that assurances about structure and management do not substitute for constitutional protection.
Parliamentary procedure and exchanges
The exchange included procedural interruptions and remarks about time overruns, with the Taoiseach noting earlier facilitation of questions and signalling limits on further leniency. Deputies referenced prior statements from the Minister for Housing that the referendum might take place this year or early next year.
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The role of the Parliamentary Liaison Office is to ensure that there's dialogue and so on, and then the implementation of the government's legislative programme. Part of the agreed government legislative programme is a referendum to enshrine water in public ownership in our constitution. This is obviously a matter of considerable public debate, a mass movement which defeated water charges, and in the aftermath of which the government said, oh we will have a referendum, no problem, we can have public ownership. It's now six years since Deputy Collins first introduced her bill to enshrine water in public ownership in the constitution, that is very deliberately bogged down in committee. It's a few months since the Minister for Housing said, oh don't worry, we'll have a referendum, it'll be this year or early next year. But for the water workers who are due to transfer from councils across the country to Irish water on the 1st of January, that simply isn't good enough. From their point of view, they have no guarantee that Irish water isn't going to be privatised in the future, and that they're being transferred over to a company that's a semi-state now, but could be privatised in the future, unless there's a referendum. So Taoiseach, they are looking for, they want a date, when is the referendum on ownership, public ownership of water going to be taking place? Yeah, now in terms of Deputy Murphy, I think you should acknowledge that very significant progress has been made in the last number of years in terms of cementing the public ownership dimension of Irish water, in terms of the state structure that has been introduced, no question about that. And I don't believe there's any reason for workers to be concerned. I mean, the fundamental issue around the referendum on water is control of the natural resource, fundamentally. and precise mechanisms by which it's managed and so on, be it an agency or be it local authorities, it doesn't matter for debate on an ongoing basis, but it is state-owned. And the state is the shareholder, you know, and it is a precious resource that we have to continue to work on. The Minister is committed to a referendum on it, and then it's a referendum to the broader issue of ownership of water. And just Deputy Boyd Barrett, Sorry, I said he's walking in, we'll get a timeline when we're ready for it. Deputy Boyd Barrett, look, let's, we've had two years of COVID. So? So, you could never, we, we couldn't have had a referendum in court, we have a lot going on. Just, just a moment, we're way over time. I know it's the first day back, but please, let the t-shirt complete. And we did take time for the first question, we went overboard in the first question to facilitate deputies, but they're milking it now. There'll be no more facilitation. I can see that.
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