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

The current water meter installation programme commenced in August 2013. I am sorry to cut across Deputy Murphy but this might be helpful in terms of a question she asked about meters. I know they are busy installing meters around Leixlip.

The approved budget for the metering programme is €539 million, excluding VAT, which includes the supply of the materials and the installation work by contractors operating in eight regions. The total spend on the programme at the end of 2013 amounted to approximately €35 million. It is estimated that 1.05 million meters will be installed under the programme, with 400,000 by the end of this year, 800,000 by the end of 2015 and the balance in 2016. The current rate of installation is approximately 27,000 meters a month and approximately 94,000 meters have been installed to date. We can give a breakdown region by region. In the midlands region, 22,064 meters have been installed. In the west, 6,520 meters have been installed – they are a bit slow in the west; in the north west 7,012 meters have been installed; a total of 8,550 meters have been installed in the south east; in County Dublin it is 15,646 meters and in the city of Dublin it is 13,613 meters.