Jan O'Sullivan (Limerick City, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I thank Ms Maria Graham and Mr. John McCarthy for their presentations. I was not aware there has been further correspondence to the Minister from the European Commission on the water framework directive and the issue of cost recovery. Mr. John McCarthy also referred to the issue of the user pays principle. These were the two issues raised in the letter from the European Commission to the chair of the expert commission. It stated that when we signed up to the wastewater directive in 2010, effectively we were covered by the directive and did not have any kind of exemption.

I accept we will meet the Commission and I do not want to stray into that area. However, as it has been raised, the committee should be given whatever information there is on this correspondence to the Minister. Is there information on whether the decisions the committee will make will have cost implications in terms of possible EU fines? Can this information be given to the committee so we can consider it? When we have our meeting with the European Commission, it will be less than a month away from the date on which we have to make our final decisions. Any information that could be given to us in this regard is information we require to make our recommendations.

I am not an expert on fiscal matters but Mr. John McCarthy said if funding is ring-fenced, one is imposing an extra cost through collection. Will he elaborate on that?