Mr. Jerry Grant:

Well it is, absolutely, because we have that responsibility and we take it very seriously. Clearly we will not be funded to carry out water services if we cannot deliver water to the required standard.

Regarding operations, we will do whatever it takes. Part of the general contribution of Irish Water will be to have capability regionally and centrally in process optimisation, in the training, in the auditing of plants and in ensuring that plants are run correctly. It is very difficult for individual local authorities to have those capabilities in-house on a county-by-county basis. That is particularly true in a county such as Roscommon, which did not have much sophisticated treatment for the reason I mentioned - originally those water sources did not require much treatment and therefore there was no tradition of providing treatment. We have been and are using outsourcing DBO contracts and a number of the Roscommon contracts are ten-year DBOs, which means the contractor will continue to operate under our supervision.

Our annual service plans under the SLA with the local authorities will set out for every county objectives to be met each year, in terms of improving quality and delivering transformation and efficiency.

We have many mechanisms in place. Irish water will make a difference through all those mechanisms, but in the first instance in investing where drinking water is not up to scratch is our top priority.