Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Wednesday, 18 January 2017

Joint Oireachtas Committee on the Future Funding of Domestic Water Services

Department of Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government, and Department of Finance

1:30 pm

Mr. John McCarthy:

I certainly can. We are looking at a structural deficit of minus 0.5% in 2018. That is on the button as to where we need to be.

In terms of the general government debt, all of the financing costs and so forth are included in the current projections for general government debt.

The Deputy asked whether, if water charges were eliminated, they could be compensated by another form of revenue and I think he mentioned the universal social charge. If water charges were eliminated, under the fiscal rules that would be classified as a discretionary revenue-reducing measure in 2017 and would need to be compensated for in 2018 by some other form of discretionary revenue-raising measure. Mr. Culhane will take the Deputy's second last question. I just looked at the economic rather than the social impact.

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