Water services amendment Bill
Mary Lou McDonald asks when the water services amendment Bill will appear; the Tánaiste says it should come before Government shortly.
I wish to raise two items. First, can the Tánaiste advise us when we might see the water services (amendment) Bill?
Second, I am increasingly concerned about the way in which the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government, Deputy Alan Kelly, is handling the new social inclusion community activation programme, SICAP. The entire process has been flawed from the start and there is a major concern over the impact on jobs and community services. Organisations have essentially been pitted against each other to bid for funding in the most appalling manner. Workers have been excluded from the entire process and there has been no negotiation or bargaining with them. They gathered last week outside the Minister, Deputy Kelly's Department to ask him to engage with them.
Comment on this
Estimates of funding cuts range from 7% to 38%. They will be utterly devastating in my own constituency area. In light of this, will the Tánaiste support an urgent Dáil debate on this matter? The Minister, Deputy Kelly, should discuss and rationalise, if he can, the flawed nature of the social inclusion community activation programme. The process is deeply unfair to workers and will have negative consequences for the communities involved.