An Independent Senator has told Minister for the Environment Alan Kelly he must guarantee legislation against privatisation of water services is “watertight” for her continued support of its passage through the Seanad.

Marie-Louise O’Donnell supported the second reading in the Upper House of the Water Services Bill, which gives effect to the Government’s recently announced reduction in charges and changes in Irish Water’s operation.

But the Taoiseach’s nominee said that “when I hear the word privatisation I’m apoplectic” and she pointed out that 34 per cent of the world’s drinking water had been privatised.

She also told the Seanad that in all her years dealing with the public she had never received so much abuse as she had about the controversial legislation.

In an impassioned and emotional address to the Seanad, she appealed for a “watertight” guarantee against privatisation. “That’s what I want to see here and that’s what you have to convince me of today and then I might be able to take the abuse with a little more heart.”

Ms O’Donnell said she, like the Minister, had received significant abuse on social media.

She was also criticised by Independent David Norris after four independents helped the Government achieve a comfortable 31 to 26 vote majority on the second stage debate of the Bill.

Mr Norris had earlier hit out at Independent colleagues in the Seanad for the way they voted on the second stage of the Bill last night and claimed they had let the Irish people down. The Government had a comfortable 31 to 26 majority with the help of four independents in the vote.

“But I very much regret that the so-called ‘Enda-pendents’ chose to vote in the way they did as well as one of my own colleagues.”

He described Ms O’Donnell’s remarks to the Minister as “plaintive” and hoped that she would “wrestle with her conscience” and that her conscience might win that struggle.

Fianna Fail’s Thomas Byrne told Ms O’Donnell: “I would say that it is so watertight that it could be changed exactly in the same way that the lottery was changed by a future minister, in the lottery’s case by a future minister coming along nearly 30 years later with legislation. It’s exactly the same procedure and in fact the lottery’s a good precedent for this.”

Earlier Mr Byrne claimed a “deliberate error” was made on privatisation in the Water Services Bill to make it look like he had listened to concerns and had changed the legislation.

He believed this change had influenced independents and he believed there was a “serious flaw” in the proposal for a plebiscite on privatisation of water services.

He said the Minister had made great play yesterday of changing ‘may’ to ‘shall’ in terms of holding a plebiscite and it was Mr Byrne’s understanding was that that was a particular factor for Independent Senator Fiach MacConghail.

Mr Byrne said: “In my view that particular change was the greatest example of ‘political bait and switch’ that we’ve seen. The mistake was so obvious that it would be spotted by anybody reading the legislation and it enabled the Minister to say ‘oh I’ve listened to you and I’ve changed the legislation’.”

Mr Byrne, a solicitor, said that in his view it was a deliberate error put into the legislation to be able to give something back.

He was speaking on the Order of Business, at which the schedule of work for the day is set, in advance of the resumption of debate on the controversial legislation.

Four votes have been taken already on the Order of Business, including one in which Independent Gerard Craughwell proposed debate on the legislation be postponed. That was defeated by 30 votes to 20.

Mr Byrne added noted that the Minister had not put forward any amendments for the Seanad debate on the Bill, which gives effect to the changes to the water charges regime announced by the Government recently and to the operation of Irish Water.

He had put forward two amendments, he said, that attempted to deal with the difficulty the Seanad had in attempting to propose a Constitutional referendum.

“I propose that the public water forum would produce a report on the holding of a Constitutional referendum, something like the Constitutional convention.” The forum has been created as part of the Bill and will include between 12 and 60 members.

He said “there was a significant flaw in the plebiscite proposals because they refer only to the sale of shares in Irish Water and I propose it should refer to the assets”.

“I’m asking the Independent colleagues in particular to look very carefully at the amendments and we will look at their amendments carefully too,” Mr Byrne said.

He believed that “there is huge disappointment out there at the moment with the Seanad. We’re all being blamed for the actions of a few. We’re all being tarred with the one brush, for not listening people, for not trying to hold this up for a short period of time and for not trying to improve it.”

Independent David Norris hit out at Independent colleagues in the Seanad for the way they voted on the second stage of the Bill last night. The Government had a comfortable 31 to 26 majority with the help of four independents.

“I feel the House let itself down badly last night,” he said. “This House was saved in order to represent the voice of the Irish people.”

He said he recognised of course the Government legitimately used the whip on this occasion.

“But I very much regret that the so-called ‘Enda-pendents’ chose to vote in the way they did as well as one of my own colleagues.”

He said: “This House is supposed to be an independent voice. We’re supposed to be above politics and nothing in my opinion showed the need for radical reform of this House than its behaviour last night which in my opinion was absolutely lamentable and I feel the Irish people were let down.”

“I do not blame the Government side. They had their reasons, they were whipped and they had to support a decent Minister in an awkward position but I really cry shame on my colleagues who are allegedly independent.”

Leader of the Seanad Maurice Cummins (FG) said however that it was very unfair to target members as to the way they voted. “I don’t think that will help anyone’s cause in targeting individual members.”