Mr. Eamon Gallen:

I thank the Deputy for his comments on the drought. He is correct about the education aspect. We are making plans for Lough Owel in Mullingar in case the drought hits us early. September is usually one of the top-three driest months, which many people are not aware of. Mr. O'Leary will address the questions about rural development while I will answer those on tariff harmonisation and connections.

On tariff harmonisation, it is up to the CRU to manage the consultation process and we will deal with the outcome. We have made a submission and we hope that the process will be progressed a long way down the road in 2019. It is likely to be 2020 before charges will be applied because we have to do IT system upgrades, notify people and so on. There will be a glide path for customers moving onto the tariffs. Charges in the Deputy's county, which is next door to the county with the lowest charges, are particularly high. In fact, the two counties have the highest and lowest charges in the country and there is inequity in that regard. A significant outcome of tariff harmonisation is equity throughout the country. Due to tariff harmonisation, 80% of customers will experience a rise in charges of less than €250 or a reduction in charges. Overall, therefore, the vast majority of customers will not see a large increase in tariffs, but some will be affected and the CRU is examining glide paths and so on. A determination will have to follow in that regard. In short, we expect there to be much progress in 2019, with charges applying from 2020.

On the connection schemes, there is only one charge, which is the connection charge. We engage with developers and they can do it in two ways, namely, in bulk, where they enter an agreement with payments staged or upfront for multiple housing units, or they can break them into smaller chunks at the same rates in order that they do not have to invest in 100 houses before the first 20 are sold. We work with developers in that regard. We deal with small and large developers but in the case of the latter, we assign dedicated account managers to help them in the process. For example, if there are more than 300 houses, we will quote separate rates for wastewater, while if there are more than 250 houses, we will quote a separate rate for water. For smaller developments, the rates are standard but we will engage with developers on everything from timing to phasing of payments and so on.