Phil Hogan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The Minister of State, Deputy Jan O'Sullivan, the officials and I are all in contact with the local authorities.

Some €5 million of the €10 million relating to water will be required for rolling out the surveying that will be required in respect of the water metering programme. The Commission for Energy Regulation is going to be the regulator for water and €2 million has been allocated in this regard. A further €2.75 million has been set aside for administrative and set-up costs. These amounts are part of the establishment costs associated with Irish Water. The loan Bord Gáis will be obtaining from the National Pensions Reserve Fund will go towards the metering programme.

Local authorities will continue to play major role in the provision of water and wastewater services. IMPACT has already signed up to the arrangements in this regard, while SIPTU has yet to do so. We have established a conciliation and consultative process, which is chaired by Mr. Kevin Foley. The latter is meeting the unions involved on a regular basis in order to ensure that there will be no misunderstandings in respect of the rolling out of this programme. I assure the Deputy that we will, in every possible way, be retaining the knowledge and expertise that exists in local authorities at present in respect of water and wastewater services.

In the context of the property tax, we are learning from the experience in Northern Ireland where such a tax has already been implemented.