Sinn Féin spokesperson on Housing, Local Government and Heritage, Eoin O Broin TD, has pledged his party’s full and enthusiastic support to the trade union-led ‘Keep Water Public – Name the Date’ campaign. 

His comments were made at the launch of the campaign today by SIPTU, Unite, Forsa and ICTU, which calls on the government to name the date for a referendum to enshrine the public ownership of the water system in the Constitution.

Teachta Ó Broin said:

“Sinn Féin has long campaigned for a referendum to enshrine the public ownership of the water and wastewater system in the Constitution. This was one of the key demands of the Right to Water campaign.

“Darragh O’Brien has indicated that he is willing to bring a memo to government on the holding of referenda on the public ownership of water and enshrining the right to housing in the Constitution. It is hoped that he will do this on foot of the report of the Housing Commission on the right to housing issue in November.

“We warmly welcome today’s campaign launched by the trade union movement. We look forward to working with them to ensure that the Government sets a date for the referendum, gets the wording of the referendum right, and holds both referenda in the first half of 2023.”