Paul Murphy on Water Workers' Strike and Demand for Water Referendum

I would like to ask about the upcoming strike by water workers across the country and many different local authorities. They are due to strike on 7 and 8 June after voting overwhelmingly in favour of strike action. That comes after very impressive rank-and-file activism of the water service workers pushing for these ballots. There are two fundamental issues. One is the fact that their terms and conditions, their pay, their rostered overtime, their allowances are not being red circled in the event that the workers say, no, we do not want to transfer to Irish water, we want to stay with our local authority. And secondly is that their fear of future privatisation of Irish water if they do transfer over. The referendum that the workers were promised, that people were promised, has not been delivered, and we have not got a guarantee that it will not be privatised in the future. So when will we have a referendum with meaningful wording that enshrines public ownership of water in the constitution? Dr. Breach-Smith. I want to thank the deputies for further questions. I want to join Deputy Batcheck in welcoming the decision today to grant the LDA Planning Permission to build another 800 homes in Dundrum and South Dublin. That will be in addition to those under construction already by the LDA, not too far away in Shangana. It will, of course, include a mix of social and affordable for purchase homes. I do not know the answer to the deputy's question on the pool beg site, so I will have to come back to her when I have the facts. Deputy Barry raised an industrial relations dispute. I am not aware of the details of the issue. We do not have any mechanism to prevent companies from offshoring, from moving jobs to other jurisdictions. We benefit from that too. A lot of companies that are not Irish bring their jobs to Ireland, so we need to bear that in mind. Certainly, if anyone is losing their job, they are entitled to proper information and consultation. That should happen. They are entitled to a redundancy package. Also, the Government can step in and offer help with job search, with education, with training, with other opportunities to help to go back to education, help to set up a business. All of those things will be made available. In relation to upskilling, I agree with that the Springboard works extremely well. We will be increasing the amount we invest in upskilling and lifelong learning in the period ahead. When it comes to national training fund surplus, I think it is a good idea to build up a substantial surplus in the national training fund. There will come a time when unemployment is not as low as it is now. We will need the surplus in the national training fund to retrain people. We will need the surplus in the social insurance fund to cover increased job seeker costs. My concern, when I listen to Deputy MacDonald and Sinn Féin, is that any time they see a surplus, they want to spend it all now. What happens in five years' time or ten years' time if we face, for some reason or another, high levels of unemployment? Who will pay for the reskilling? Who will pay the job seekers and the welfare supports? It is important that you do build up surplus in times of plenty. We are doing exactly that, Deputy Bush. The approach from Sinn Féin is to see a surplus, spend the surplus and there is nothing left when you need it down the line. That is the pathway to a return to austerity. That is what I hear all the time from Sinn Féin, the glide path back to austerity, spend the surplus now and have nothing left when you need it most. In relation to Deputy Tobin's question on the reduction in excise on petrol and diesel, we reduced excise in petrol and diesel by 15 to 20 cents. That was at a time when it was 500 cents per litre at the pumps. It has come down considerably now. It is about 140 or 150. He pointed out that we have taken in a lot of revenues from VAT on petrol and diesel and on gas and electricity, and that is true. It has also been given back as well the TBEST scheme for business, a big budget for that. The energy credits alone, roughly writing them down here, 600 per household, 2 million per household. That is 1.2 billion given back in energy credits alone. In relation to Deputy Murakoo's question, the duty of care law is now in the Shannad. We would expect to have it enacted this year, but that is not entirely under our control. Notwithstanding the fact that Beyonce and Coldplay did not play concerts in Ireland, there are a huge amount of concerts happening all over Ireland this year, in Dublin, Cork and Galway and Slane. They have all got insurance, so I am not sure it is as simple as the story that we are being told that it is down to insurance solely. Deputy Boyd Barrett asked about the cliff edge and that there should not be a cliff edge. I agree with him on that, but that is why we have the cost rental, so that people who do not qualify for social housing, who used to then qualify for nothing, now qualify for cost rental as well. I do think we need to review the limits every year to take into account house prices and earnings. We have increased them, and I anticipate we will increase them some more. In relation to investment in the West, there is enormous investment happening in the West of Ireland at the moment. Only a few weeks ago, Minister Coveney announced probably the biggest private sector investment ever in the West of Ireland, and that is 1,000 jobs being created by Dexcom in Athenry. I will be in Mayo shortly to open the new road between Westport and Castlebar, a €250 million investment, probably the biggest ever public investment in County Mayo. I am keen to continue to engage with Ireland at NOC as to how we can invest there, and the national broadband plan. There are hundreds of millions of investment going in every year. There is more needed and it will continue for so long as the parties that are currently in government are in government. If the opposition parties get into office, there will be a fundamental change of economic policy, and we will be in a recession within three years, and you will be cutting all those budgets and mark my words and somebody keep that for the future and the unlikely events that they ever form a government. In terms of Deputy Murphy's question and Deputy Smith's, in my view, strikes are best avoided and they are always resolved in the end. They can be resolved bilaterally through talks, they can be resolved at the WRC, or they can be resolved at the Labour Court. That is how the Government intervenes, using the offices of Government at the Labour Court and WRC. Ishgeran is not going to be privatised. That is in law already. We have committed to a referendum as well, but we have not at least yet come up with wording that might have unintended consequences, and that is always the problem with wording in the constitution. There is zero chance of being privatised. It is not a company that turns a profit, so I do not quite know who would purchase it.