Fergus O'Dowd (Louth, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

To be fair to the Deputy, the full facts will be transparently made available. I cannot give him the detail now but the consultants who analysed the water system said it is costing twice as much as in the UK to provide the service. That is why we expect that when Uisce Éireann takes over from 1 January next, there will be new efficiencies and synergies. We will not work on a county by county basis anymore, notwithstanding the service level agreements in each local authority. All of the current costs will not continue to arise. There will be significant changes and new synergies.

With regard to Deputy Murphy's comments on the unaccounted for water, there will have to be significant reductions in that regard and, therefore, costs will reduce. If we are wasting 42% of all water that is treated, stored or pumped, that must reduce and, therefore, all the costs will have to reduce. It will not happen overnight given that when one section of pipe is repaired, pressure will increase on a different section but the intention is that there will be new synergies and demand will reduce by at least 10%. In Denmark, demand reduced by 12.5%. Some group water schemes have experienced significant reductions and I acknowledge they supply farms and so on as well as households. There was a reduction of between 70% and 80% in the consumption of water in Cavan-Monaghan once meters were installed. It will not be the case that all the costs will increase. I expect significant reductions over time and the capital allocation will reduce from €600 million because there will be new efficiencies.