Fórsa and other ICTU unions have raised concerns about the future public ownership of water services with local government minister Eoghan Murphy. At a meeting with the minister last month, Fórsa national secretary Peter Nolan also said unions would resist any attempt to force local authority staff to move to Irish Water on foot of management proposals to create a single water authority.

Minister Murphy has since told the unions that his Government broadly supports Irish Water management’s proposal to create the single authority.

The unions told the minister that constitutional safeguards were needed to ensure that water services stayed in public ownership, in line with the declared policy of all Irish political parties. Nolan said a timetable for a referendum was necessary as “the prospect of a single entity being set up in a commercial guise is only one remove away from privatisation.”

While the minister confirmed the Government’s commitment to a referendum, he said he could not offer a timescale. The ICTU unions will meet on 5th February to consider their response.

The unions also met Irish Water management and told them that few, if any, staff were willing to move their employment. Management said it would give a more detailed briefing to unions later this month.

Fórsa also plans to meet representatives of the Local Government Management Agency (LGMA), which represents local authority employers, to establish their views on the proposal. A finalised union position will then be ready to present to other parties, including Oireachtas parties, next month. 

These meetings were arranged after Irish Water confirmed its intention to create a single water agency and employer by 2021, four years before the expiry of current service level agreements with local authorities. Fórsa and other unions are opposed to this new structure as it threatens employment and increases the risk of future privatisation.

They are calling for a constitutional referendum to prevent the formation of the new entity and ensure that water services remain under public control.