Via ~ Debate Ireland Eleventh-hour letter from Sinn Féin and others to ask President not sign Water Bill Eleventh-hour letter from Sinn Féin the Technical Group and a number of independent TDs and one senator to ask the President to not sign the Water Bill. The letter sent to the President asks him to utilise Article 26 which allows the President – after consulting with his Council of State – to refer a bill to the Supreme Court to test its constitutionality. The group had earlier considered asking the President to basically put the issue to a referendum under Article 27 but rowed back on that when the Office of the President pointed out that it wouldn’t apply here as the Bill has already been passed through both the Dáil and Seanad. Their latest appeal under Article 26, sent today, read: A Uachtaráin, a chara,Under Article 26 of Bunreacht na hÉireann we request that you consider declining to sign and promulgate as a law the Water Services Bill 2014 on the ground that the Bill contains a proposal of such national importance that the will of the people thereon ought to be ascertained.We make this request on the grounds that: 1. There is such a degree of widespread public opposition to the imposition of charges for water as proposed under Section 3(2) of the Bill that such a proposal should be put to the people by way of referendum or by holding of a general election before such charges are introduced. 2. The proposed plebiscite on the ownership of Irish Water in section 2 of the Bill does not satisfy demands for a constitutional referendum to enshrine the public ownership of Irish Water into the Constitution. 3. The proposal in Section 3(3) of the Bill which will require households who are unable to drink the water in their taps due to contamination to pay 50% of their water charges is fundamentally unjust. The office of President Higgins wrote back. The Article 27 suggestion is gently rebuffed but the President is “considering” the group’s request that he invoke Article 26. The letter to the President was signed by: Brian Stanley TD; Gerry Adams TD; Senator David Cullinane; Senator Trevor Ó Clochartaigh; Senator Kathryn Reilly; Jonathan O’Brien TD; Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin TD; Mary Lou McDonald TD; Michael Colreavy TD; Seán Crowe TD; Pearse Doherty TD; Dessie Ellis TD; Martin Ferris TD; Pádraig Mac Lochlainn TD; Sandra McLellan TD; Aengus Ó Snodaigh TD; Peadar Toibín TD; Róisín Shorthall TD; Tommy Broughan TD; Catherine Murphy TD; Richard Boyd Barrett TD; Ruth Coppinger TD; Joan Collins TD; Thomas Pringle TD; Joe Highins TD; Finian McGrath TD; Mick Wallace TD; Shane Ross TD; Maureen O’Sullivan TD; Paul Murphy TD; Mattie McGrath TD; Thomas Fleming TD; Stephen Donnelly TD; Clare Daly TD; Senator Gerard Craughwell; Seamus Healy TD; John Halligan TD; Michael Fitzmaurice TD.
Posted on: Tue, 23 Dec 2014 21:45:21 +0000