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

In last year's Voted expenditure, €5.7 million was set aside to set up a programme management office for this challenging project. Instead of 34 local authority offices handling water services separately, we will have just one office. It was a useful initiative. We have retained the expertise of local authorities alongside the expertise of Bord Gáis in building systems and customer capability. Committee members received details of the essential software and hardware last week. The people involved are not consultants. Rather, they are external service providers and 90% of the money spent will be an asset on the company's balance sheet. How could the ESB, EirGrid or Bord Gáis have been set up without actually spending money on putting systems in place? It will not be a ramshackle company, but the most modern water company possible. We are borrowing money to do this. Depending on the term of the loan, that money will be on the balance sheet for ten, 15 or 20 years.

I will provide the full details of last year's expenditure on the establishment. Some €15.76 million was spent, with €760,000 towards the regulator to cover its new work, €570,000 on phase two of the pilot metering project, €5.7 million on the water services transition office and €179,000 to PricewaterhouseCoopers, PWC, for the original independent report on the structure of the water utility that was to be established.