Ownership of Irish Water: Support bill to save water for everyone

THE 1916 centenary celebrations allowed us express pride in what has been achieved in this small Republic. 

Our independence was secured at some cost and at a moment when the world was reeling from the catastrophe of the First World War. In Ireland, resources were scarce. Possibility was limited for decades. Yet, over time, the basic requirements needed to support a modernising society were established. In virtually every instance this development was driven by semi-state companies proud to help build a new society. The model served us well. It may be necessary to remind ourselves these enterprises were active patriotism — a judgement that stands, even if abuses by monopolies are recalled.

During the last Dáil one of the greatest failures in public administration since we achieved independence unfolded. Efforts to establish Irish Water as a semi-state company were undermined by almost scandalous political incompetence, dreadful planning, and even poorer communications. The proposal — a perfectly good one — became the focus of protests driven as much by anger with establishment politics as anything else. Water became a touchpaper for the fury built up around economic collapse. In more recent times the issue has been exploited by Fianna Fáil in one of the most shameless examples of opportunism seen in Irish politics.

An incomprehensible episode in that cringe-making fiasco was Taoiseach Enda Kenny’s curt dismissal of the suggestion that an amendment securing Irish Water in public ownership be put to a vote. Autocracy was in, democracy was out. Had that vote been held, suspicions might have been allayed, and the project might have weathered the storm. But no, like the chief architect of the comedy, Phil Hogan, Mr Kenny thought he could growl the democratic proposal down.

That cockatoo comes home to roost today when Deputy Joan Collins brings the Water in Public Ownership Bill 2016 before the Dáil. Already, 39 TDs have promised to support it and Fianna Fáil will support it if it gets a second reading this week. Though this issue has been all but lost in a fog around water charges it has little to do with that — it is about protecting the State’s life-sustaining resources so we all can enjoy them. How that is paid for is another day’s work.

In a world where Nestlé, with profits of €13.5bn in 2014 and often at the centre of disputes around water degradation, has a chairman who says “access to water is not a public right” it would be stupid and reckless not to enact a hands-off law.

There may be no intention to privatise Irish Water but that’s just not good enough. What are we supposed to do? Sit impotent in the headlights until some businessman snaps it up or maybe until some faceless hedge fund decides it might be a good punt? Supporting the Collins Bill would celebrate the idealism and social equality this State once hoped to make real, but the administration exposed as tragically amateur while trying to establish Irish Water is unlikely to agree. And they, the Fine Gael Brahmans, will wonder why establishment politics are now increasingly held in such cold, deepening contempt. Let this be a stand-up-and-be-counted issue before we have to try to fend off our own Donald Trump.