Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

One of the frustrating things for us, and more so for the EPA, is that if we were talking about water charges, as we have spent many hours doing, and the Water Framework Directive, and there was a discussion of fines, it would be on the front page of most of the newspapers tomorrow. I would be amazed if we get any coverage of this, or it will be very limited coverage, despite being in the middle of court proceedings facing a potential fine of thousands if not millions of euro.

Could Mr. Flynn for the committee's benefit talk us through an infringement process, from the initial communication from the Commission, through to the warnings and the court? It is important for that to be on the record so that people have a sense of it. As he explains that, can he tell us how frequently the EPA raises the concerns before and during the enforcement proceedings with the Department? I think the public will want to know how much notice a relevant Department or Minister have prior to the different stages of enforcement. My understanding is that the EPA does a six-month review or report because we are in the infringement proceedings. It might be useful for this committee to schedule a six-monthly review meeting. We could invite the various players in after the EPA has done that review to give us updated information.

In respect of Irish Water, Mr. Grant says plans are in place for all 38 agglomerations. Is it his understanding that the European Commission is not satisfied with the plans or with their implementation or speed of their implementation? Does Irish Water have plans for the other 127 EPA priority sites, even though they are not part of a court action?

He has said before that even if Irish Water had more money it might not be able to spend it. If we go back to what he said about data and flow metres, planning permission is not needed for those. I would have thought that for many of the smaller agglomerations that is an area of capital expenditure where Irish Water could do with more money in the short term. If current investment is between €200 million and €300 million I would have thought relatively small increases in that, particularly in terms of flow metres and assisting with data collection, could make quite a big difference but I would be interested to hear what Mr. Grant has to say about that.

Could he outline the year-on-year capital investment expenditure in this area of Irish Water's capital investment programme 2017-21? If he does not have it in front of him could he send it to the committee because we would all be interested in that?