Mr. Jerry Grant:

I will refer to one point. The first fix savings would not be reflected in overall savings at regional level. The bulk of those savings went into what is called suppressed demand, that is, there was better service to customers who were suffering low pressure because of the fact there was a major leak next door, etc. The problem is that we cannot aggregate leaks fixed on the ground and expect to see the full saving at the plant. There is a huge dynamic in the system. The data that we are using to support the project is absolutely real time data, which we update practically daily, for the greater Dublin area.

It is hoped the roadshow which Mr. Quinn spoke about and the consultation will give us the opportunity to go through the scheme in a lot of detail. I would reiterate that it is critically urgent in terms of delivering the necessary security of supply for the greater Dublin area and the midlands.

On benchmarking, the regulatory process involves benchmarking every time we go back to the regulator on our funding plans and the benchmarking is against comparable utilities, particularly the likes of Scottish Water, where there is a lot of similar dynamics in the system. Equally, it reflects the fact that we are in the early stages of a journey. We are not expected to be at the point of a mature utility. Nevertheless, we are driven along that track by the regulatory process and we have been taking 7% reductions annually since we were set up. This is a very demanding efficiency rate but we have managed to achieve it so far.