Brian Stanley (Laois-Offaly, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Has the commission discussed the impact in terms of the culture? The culture of an organisation like this one is very important. If that is the culture that comes from the top, has the commission discussed the effects of such a culture on the organisation as a whole and in terms of costs throughout the organisation?

In regard to 2016, it is estimated that the full economic cost of providing water per household is somewhere in the region of €586 to €590. What is likely to happen in 2016, two years away?

Will the full cost be levied? Do the witnesses agree that full compliance with the EU directive on these matters will mean that the full cost will have to be recouped?

The witnesses said call-out charges were benchmarked against those of other utility companies, including the ESB and Bord Gáis, the mammy and daddy of Uisce Éireann. Have the call-out charges of other organisations and companies been taken into account? There is a charge of €282 for a call-out after 5 p.m., which suggests that we are wasting our time working in these Houses - it is staggering. The charge is €140 per hour during office hours and the initial call-out fee is €188. Have these charges been benchmarked against other companies that operate a call-out system? It seems outrageous. TV companies provide network services and internet companies provide broadband. There is a range of such companies - how do they compare?

On the issue of protecting customers, last night a householder informed me that his phone calls to Irish Water over the past eight days had gone unanswered. In general he uses the phone every day, but his calls to the Irish Water call centre have neither been answered nor returned.

On customer costs, over 40% of all treated water is lost through leakage from the mains system. One can keep mopping the floor but it is not a productive way to spend time if one does not fix the leak. The overall cost of providing water is €1.2 billion, but 40% of this leaks into the ground. Have the witnesses discussed with Irish Water a programme to improve this? Allowance has been made for substantial capital works. The document provided by the witnesses says there will be €750 million worth of capital works for 2014 - this figure rises to €864 million for 2015 and €894 million for 2016. Over the past ten years, between €300 million and €400 million was spent per year on mains rehabilitation capital works. Substantial work was done on installing high-quality mains infrastructure in some counties, including new boreholes and so on. How much mains rehabilitation has been carried out in 2014? I cannot get an answer on this from Uisce Éireann because it sidesteps the question. Have the witnesses discussed this huge cost base issue with Irish Water? Efforts will be made to force people to pay for water that is leaking into the ground, and this concerns me greatly.

What is the plan for dwellings that cannot be metered? Many dwellings are part of a group supply scheme and some old houses have backyard supplies. This issue affects apartment complexes too, some of which house single people on low incomes. How will costs be determined in these cases?