Dr. Tom Collins:

With regard to the role, I agree the forum does not have a huge profile and we have not sought that, although we are beginning to do so. It is such a deeply contested area that, as a forum, we ourselves needed to engage in the interrogation of positions. We have 20 representatives from among domestic consumers. As I mentioned at the outset, people had to apply to be members but those 20 do not represent anybody in that sense. That is probably a weakness in the structure. There would be some value if the domestic consumers were reporting in to a wider constituency, whatever that constituency is. Of that group, at the time about one third had not registered with Irish Water, so we are sure about one third of the membership are not registered, which means we had a mixed position. I believe we need to engage much more actively now at local level, where there is an amount of interest. There is obviously a huge level of interest in the wider issue of water in Ireland. Where it comes home is on issues where there is a failure in the system, such as in regard to boil water notices and lead in pipes - in other words, if the thing is not working, people become animated by it.

I personally believe the best way we can become involved is in a wider public education role. We could become involved with schools and the community sector and we can partner with the various water groups in the NGO sector, which have become very active. That is a strategy that waits to be developed and is one that requires resources, as the Deputy said. A new forum needs to ensure that the public is actively inserted in the debate as water affects them, however it affects them. There will be many other contentious areas in water once the domestic water issue is resolved. For example, there are 500 different tariffs in non-domestic charges and we are about to look at these. I could see us actively involving ourselves with the Irish tourism sector, the farming sector, the ICT sector and the food industry in exploring with them how the water resource impacts on their plans.

Regarding the future funding of domestic water services, we accepted the report of the expert commission. We took the view that water begins as a public service, that there is a citizen entitlement around water and that the issue of affordability should never interfere with a person's right to water. That is the forum's position. The only other point I will make on funding is that the debate on the funding of domestic water has struck me on a personal level as being about a relatively minor part of the total cost structure. When water charges were suspended some months back, although Mr. Grant may correct me on the figure, I believe €232 million was the projected figure for domestic charges at that time. In 2014 Irish consumers spent €215 million on bottled water, and they got 25 litres per head for it and spent €47 per head on it. If Irish Water was charging for water at that rate, we would certainly have funded the domestic water bill issue.

My point is that, clearly, we have gone for the general taxation route on the basis that the expert commission examined that route and decided it was its preferred one. We can see arguments for both, but saw no reason to second guess the expert commission.