Michelle Mulherin (Mayo, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

As regards pricing proposals, I know that there will be public consultation. Commercial premises are charged for water. Will it be something similar in the future or will that model change? Will it be uniform across businesses and households? It is proposed that households will have a free allocation of water after which they will start to pay.

Could existing wastewater treatment plants, not at capacity, benefit from extensions being built? I am thinking of the number of septic tanks on the outskirts of towns where the only sensible option is to link them with a mains treatment system. Could a scheme be established across the board to include such households? People are anxious to do something about their septic tanks. I can see the benefit in having of such a scheme.

How will Uisce Éireann's operations affect public private partnership, design-build-operate or DBO schemes? How will the current arrangements be affected? I presume they will not be affected owing to contractual arrangements, but how does Uisce Éireann plan to enter into public private partnerships in the future? As many such contracts operate on a 15 to 20 year basis, will Uisce Éireann consider shorter term contracts? What are the company's plans in that regard?