Ms Maria Graham:

The first question concerned the savings and the balance. If local authorities have to bear a cost, they need to have a source of funding for that expenditure. If that is currently being met by Irish Water, there would be a shift. I gave the example of rates expenditure, where we gave it compensation and Irish Water was not paying commercial rates. We have changed that in water services legislation but local authorities would have been down around €47 million as a consequence, with the Department giving the €47 million in extra funding. That is what I was referring to with respect to a level playing pitch. I am assuming any costs incurred with local authorities would lead to them expecting to get a new source of revenue from that. Either we or Irish Water would fund it.