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

Does the change to the funding model for Irish Water in any way affect its capital investment programme as outlined in the business plan for next year and the years leading up to 2021? Last year €140 million was earmarked for the completion of phase one and the start of phase two of the metering programme. I understand it has been re-profiled in the overall capital spend, but Irish Water has not been able to give us an indication as to when that money will be spent. Will it be spread out over the period 2018 to 2021 and will it be spent on something more specific? Does the Minister have any information in that regard? I am asking because there is a particular difficulty with wastewater treatment, not just in the 38 agglomerations covered by the European Commission's legal action in the European Court of Justice. Why has the overall capital spend under the programme not changed on the back of the European Commission initiating legal proceedings in the European Court of Justice? Has there been a movement of money to try to bring forward the investment to bring the 38 agglomerations up to speed to either reduce or minimise the impact of the legal action? I am concerned because this applies to more than just the 38 agglomerations. In its latest report the Environmental Protection Agency has detailed up to 100 locations around the country, in almost every county, where raw sewage is being pumped. I know that there has been a change since last year in terms of the Minister's responsibility for this issue. Much more responsibility has devolved to Irish Water and the Commission for Energy Regulation, but given the fact that we are facing a legal action against the State rather than Irish Water, I presume that the Minister and his officials have a particular interest in ensuring the maximum level of investment to tackle the 38 sewage plants most at risk of causing pollution. How is he dealing with that issue in the Estimates for next year and following years?

At the Committee on the Future Funding of Domestic Water Services one of the issues that arose was that the European Commission was very concerned that funding from central government for Irish Water could not be guaranteed in the longer term. While the Minister and the Government have made verbal commitments, they are still subject to the budgetary cycle each year. The Minister has made a commitment and I accept his bone fides in terms of the plan to meet both the need for direct investment and borrowing commitments year on year as per the business plan, but it is subject to agreement each year. Some of us proposed that a way to get around this was for the State to enter into a legally binding ten-year service level agreement with Irish Water to ensure funding certainty which might allay some of the fears of the Commission. That idea was not supported at the committee by Fine Gael, but I presume it is still an issue in the Minister's engagement with the Commission. Is it something at which the Government is looking or considering to overcome that problem?