Impact demands referendum to stop water services sell-off

The country’s largest public service union is seeking a constitutional referendum to ensure that water services can never be privatised.

However a motion at the trade union Impact’s biennial conference in Killarney, which would have committed it to rejecting water charges, was amended.

This meant the union did not adopt an anti-water charge stance as policy.

The issue of water charges is a sensitive one for Impact as it represents hundreds of local authority staff involved in the provision of water services.

Impact general secretary Shay Cody said that without a constitutional referendum there would be continuing fear and debate about privatisation.

He said there also needed to be agreement on what constituted a fair amount of water for families and individuals and that this should be funded from general taxation.

Mr Cody said there should only be charges for excess use of water.

He said it was ridiculous that a person paid for water to wash their car in a car wash, but not if they used a power hose at home.

Outgoing Impact president Jerry King said water was too important to let fall into the hands of entrepreneurs or the stock markets.

Impact national secretary Peter Nolan said the Government's decision to suspend water charges and establish a commission to look at the future of charges meant the union had to ensure it was in a position to put forward a clear and credible position on the maintenance of a potable and waste water infrastructure.

He said the conference had an opportunity to start producing the building blocks for such a position.

“But we can’t do that if we rule out the prospect of water charges altogether.” Mr Nolan said.

He said there was widespread agreement within the union that water was a human right and should never be privatised, and that public ownership should be enshrined in the constitution.

However, he said the trade union movement had a responsibility to protect the incomes of all its members including the 4,000 workers -- many belonging to Impact -- who were involved in the delivery of water services.

“They need and expect us to provide a sound and effective submission to the commission in order to guarantee a sustainable supply of water and safeguard their jobs and livelihood into the future,” Mr Nolan said.

“This will not be helped by a policy that prohibits water charges always and in all circumstances.”