Seán Fleming (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

We have received a very comprehensive reply from the Taoiseach on the matters raised. I wish to refer briefly to the issue of Irish Water and its classification in terms of the market corporation test. The assumption up to now was that we would know by March how that would work out, that is, whether Irish Water would pass that test. However, in the Taoiseach's letter to the Chairman, he says that the CSO is working to finalise its report in the next two to three weeks; hopefully it will be done by the end of March. He goes on to say that the assessment will then be provided to EUROSTAT and that the CSO has been advised that the final response from EUROSTAT is likely to take at least two months from the date of receipt of the assessment. At this stage it looks like it will be at least June - possibly later - before we get a final decision on the market corporation test for Irish Water. This is significantly at variance with what we understood and I am pleased to get that information on the record. That is the only point in the Taoiseach's letter to which I wished to refer.