Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The summer economic statement made clear the issue of water charging and its funding would be dealt with later on in the year. The Taoiseach has now outlined, in the context of this, that the Goverment wants to deliver a full refund, which we will do. The cost of the refunding of charges is €171 million. The full cost of this includes an administrative charge of €5 million. We will also have to deal with the issue of how we support group water schemes. This will bring the full cost to €178 million. In terms of where the money will come from, we are projecting underspends throughout all Departments to the end of June of between €280 million and €300 million, which indicates we will be able to deliver that cost out of overall underspends for the year. I will be in a position to confirm the departmental breakdown of this later in the year when I have another two to three months of expenditure under my belt.