John Lahart (Dublin South West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I am not asking the officials from the Department of Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government to answer my queries now but on another date. I refer to the fuzzy area regarding the transfer of assets from local authorities to Irish Water. I ask them to supply me with a detailed paper on the transfer of assets from local authorities to Irish Water that includes the timeline, ownership and value of assets.

I wish to refer the officials from the Department of Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government to their presentation and the heading of expenditure on water services and funding arrangements. It reads:

Prior to 2014 ... The Exchequer grants for public water services projects generally covered about 75% of the overall costs. The balance was funded by local authorities from revenue from commercial water charges, capital contributions from major users.

The capital contributions were made by major users. They paid commercial water rates and also made a capital contribution to infrastructure. Is that correct? Please provide more detail about the matter. Is the arrangement still in place with Irish Water whereby major infrastructural projects are paid for by major users? The obvious ones that spring to mind are the drinks, IT and pharma industries. Do those industries still contribute to the cost of capital projects?

The water component was mentioned. My question is in the context of the arrangements that existed prior to 2014 and the 25% that was not covered by Exchequer funds. The presentation mentioned "the water component of development levies." What has changed as there is some anecdotal evidence? I refer to new connections. Under the old system, when the local authorities handled this service, was there a separate connection fee for water? Was the fee incorporated in the development levy? Is the Department of Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government happy with the situation? Has the Department monitored and seen evidence of a significant increase in connection costs since Irish Water assumed this responsibility?

Both sets of departmental officials can respond to my questions on the environment. Will the cessation of water metering damage the borrowing capacity of Irish Water? If the State becomes the sole customer of domestic water tariffs then is it feasible for Irish Water or its parent company, Ervia, to borrow on the markets?