Ms Geraldine Tallon:

I am not sure that would be absolutely fair to say. Obviously, there is a return to an operator. What the State gets for its investment is expertise, capacity, scale of operation and assurance in terms of operation. These are important plants. They are the subject of a compliance regime at EU level, and they are complex to design and operate. They are costly in terms of chemicals and energy. The State gets an insurance that the plant is well maintained and run, operates to its design standards and complies with EU legislation. The investment must bring in expertise at a scale that is capable of generating an economy of scale and efficiency. As I stated, one finds that perhaps eight, nine or ten plants in various areas are operated by a single entity which, as a consequence, has muscle, for example, in terms of energy costs.