I was glad to hear the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government state on "Prime Time" last night that he was meeting Mr. John Tierney of Irish Water this morning and acknowledge that the Cabinet needs to reassure people and give them greater certainty on the structure and roll-out of water charges. It is difficult to listen to Fianna Fáil lecture us on this, given that it signed up to the memorandum of understanding on water charges.

It is nothing to do with that.

The troika has been gone since December.

There have been clear and serious problems with the way it has been rolled out and it is important that the Cabinet moves swiftly in this regard. I asked for the Minister to come to the House on foot of colleagues' requests yesterday, and I understand his office has responded and that the Leader will deal with the issue. I am glad of this because I think we can have a good debate on how the matter has developed since we debated, at great length, the Water Services Bill 2013.

On the Maíria Cahill case, as Senator Darragh O'Brien noted, I indicated yesterday that we should have a debate generally on the issue of cover-ups and how allegations and statements about sexual abuse are treated within institutions. That would be an important debate. Senators Darragh O'Brien and Jillian van Turnhout dealt with the matter very sensitively when they first raised it, but it was unfortunate that Senator Cullinane employed a different style of contribution. It is a very serious matter and I am glad the Taoiseach is meeting Ms Cahill today and that the Tánaiste met her last week. I understand the matter will be discussed in the Joint Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality, but Senator Darragh O'Brien raised a very serious issue about the way in which abusers were dealt with by Sinn Féin-IRA and, in particular, the allegations we are hearing in respect not only of Ms Cahill but also other victims of abuse, whereby abusers were sent away. That was the way in which Sinn Féin-IRA dealt with them. We have developed careful structures to ensure abusers are not sent onwards to carry out further abuse in other areas. We have seen in the past how, tragically, abusers like Fr. Brendan Smyth were moved from parish to parish and jurisdiction to jurisdiction, abusing children wherever they went. There is a huge issue of child protection that Sinn Féin-IRA have not addressed. This is not ancient history. The abuse Ms Cahill described happened to her in the late 1990s and the interrogations she credibly claims were carried out by the IRA also happened in the late 1990s. This case raises very serious political and legal questions about child protection.

It is welcome that Trinity College Dublin is launching its five-year strategic plan for the period from 2015 to 2019. I am glad that the rebranding proposals have been dropped. A number of very controversial proposals had been made on a new crest and name for the university but they met with considerable resistance from staff, students and alumni. There is substance to the strategic plan, including in particular ambitious targets for new buildings, developing research potential and building links with international students and colleges. I wish the college well with its strategic plan which is launched today.

Yesterday I spoke about Irish Water. Senator Terry Leyden might have been correct that I was somewhat convoluted in my delivery, but I will make it simple today. Water forms 60% of our bodies and 60% of everything we eat. It is the only reason we are alive. We cannot live without it. When one establishes a monstrosity like Irish Water, one is not setting up an electricity, telephone or gas consortium. We can live without the latter but we cannot live without water. The initiation and development of Irish Water does not have the same contours, methods and systems. They cannot apply. Irish people do not know how, why, where, when or how much it will cost. It keeps changing. They have no proper outline of the matter and they do not know what is going on. If it is to be a public company - I am dubious about this - we have to be given a big say or it will become a private company down the line and we will fill the pockets of the vulture capitalists. That would be like selling off our forests, and we will end up selling off our beaches.

I want the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government to come here. He wanted the job very badly and I hear he has marvellous and robust talents. I would like to see his talents on display in this House while he answers our questions. I am not interested in whether he had been on RTE, BBC or Newstalk to tell the people what, why, when and where. He should come into this House to tell us, as elected or selected Members, what is going on. I call on him to come here to tell us what is going on in Irish Water. A good Government cannot allow itself to be undermined on a daily basis by the performance of Irish Water. Water is our right and we cannot live without it. It is not like gas or electricity. It is an extraordinary element in our lives, but it is being battered around. With all these consultants, vulture capitalists and profit making, it seems that is what it is becoming. The Minister is a very robust Member of the Lower House.

He should come to this House and display that robustness, not in front of the television cameras but before the Oireachtas and the Members of the Seanad. That is what the Seanad is supposed to be about. All Senators - this is not an anti-Government-----

Is the Senator proposing an amendment to the Order of Business?

Yes. I propose that to put our minds at rest the Minister, Deputy Alan Kelly, come to the House to answer urgent questions about Irish Water and the impasse to date, as a result of which the people are going crazy.