Mr. John Tierney:

In response to Deputy Bannon, the PwC independent assessment was carried out by the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government. We were not involved as it was prior to Bord Gáis Éireann, BGE, becoming involved. The intention is and has been to use the expertise of local authorities. That was done through secondment to the Irish Water programme itself. A number of staff in local authorities have successfully applied for jobs in the permanent organisation, Irish Water. We are using the expertise of local authorities through the service level agreements.

The money being spent on establishment does not come out of the moneys being used at the moment to invest in local authority schemes or operations.