Sinn Féin to ask President not to sign water bill into law

Sinn Féin will ask President Michael D Higgins not to sign the water services bill into law if it is passed by the Seanad today, as part of rarely-used head of State powers.

The move was revealed as an independent senator began a “campaign” to force a referendum on any potential future privatisation of Irish Water, claiming Sinn Féin had “hijacked” the call.

The Government’s revised water charges legislation is currently passing through its final stages in the upper house, after a marathon 16- hour debate on Friday.

The discussions — repeatedly hit by claimed ‘filibustering’ by opponents — failed to see any amendments passed, with the only major changes to be discussed today involving the deletion of PPS numbers.

During Friday’s debate, several senators pushed for a requirement that any future privatisation can only be allowed by referendum, instead of a non-binding plebiscite national vote.

And while that move was voted down, Sinn Féin senator David Cullinane said his party will be seeking to petition the President not to sign the bill into law if it is passed without the change.

“We have promised to do all in our power to oppose these charges. Therefore, if both Houses of the Oireachtas pass the Water Services Bill this week, we will seek to petition the President under Article 27 of the Constitution.

“We have the petition ready and we will be inviting all Oireachtas members genuinely opposed to domestic water charges to support this action,” Mr Cullinane said.

Under the move, the party claims Mr Higgins will be required to convene the Council of State to consider the bill if a third of the Dáil and most senators sign a “petition of concern”.

However, it remains unclear whether the move will gain enough support from the Oireachtas, after the bill passed through the main stages of the Dáil and Seanad last week by 81 votes to 58 and 31 votes to 26.

A similar measure was called for by Independent senator Gerard Craughwell, who claimed Sinn Féin had “hijacked” his campaign for the President’s intervention.

Meanwhile, documents reveal there was a lack of records kept of key meetings between the Department of Environment, Irish Water and Bord Gáis, the parent firm that won the contract to run the water services.

RTÉ revealed there are no minutes of several meetings between then-minister Phil Hogan, the companies and his key officials over the setting-up of Irish Water.