Ms Geraldine Tallon:

We were aware right from the start that money was being spent on external as well as internal service providers. Our concern at every stage, in any circumstance in which external service provision was mooted, was to determine whether it was a type of service that could be provided by the local government system. We wanted to avoid any type of duplication in that regard. We sought satisfaction that where external service provision was required, it was not a type of service that was already being provided through the local government service but rather involved new systems, facilities, hardware, infrastructure and so on, as required by Irish Water.