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

I thank the witnesses and join in the apology regarding the delay. I want to tease out a little further the question of the role of the Public Water Forum in regard to the public. The witnesses might share my view that there is not a lot of wide public knowledge of what the forum does, and they might be able to answer as to what can be done about that. Do they feel there should be public deliberations? How could there be better transparency, given one of the issues we are supposed to look at today is public engagement and transparency? How could the Public Water Forum provide more of that? Obviously, one way is to give the forum at least a secretariat so it can do the work it is tasked to do.

Our role is to look at the future funding of domestic water services. Perhaps the witnesses do not discuss this as a group, but do they have a view in regard to how water should be funded, particularly in view of the wider role Dr. Collins and Ms O'Brien indicated in regard to protecting the environment, security of clean supply, safe removal of wastewater without damaging our rivers and so on? Do they have a view as to whether funding should be, for example, through ring-fenced general taxation or otherwise?

On a question to the regulator or to Irish Water, given the fact there is an Irish Water national stakeholders forum, as well the Public Water Forum, should there be some kind of rationalisation in that regard?