Pat Casey (Wicklow, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

We had a fairly detailed conservation on amendment No. 15. There is no point in going through half the alphabet and discussing it all over again. We are willing to support this amendment today with a view to having a closer look at it when the staff have agreed to send us on the details of that formula and how the amendment around the A to K formula is actually worked out practically.

We had a detailed discussion on Irish Water - I do not know if the Minister of State was listening in on that - and on the revaluation that is taking place. With regard to Irish Water and how it is distributed further down the line, Wicklow had all of its water assets valued and had them rateable - unlike some local authorities that did not have theirs - and at this stage it looks like Wicklow will be at a significant loss if it is done on a population basis compared with how it is currently calculated. In fairness to the staff, they have given us a clear indication of how that can be sorted out in the longer term. In the last session I said that the buoyancy generated by EirGrid and by ESB could potentially be used by the Minister to sort out the discrepancies with regard to Irish Water. I want to have this on the record again but at the moment I can say that we may want to bring forward amendments to this section on Report Stage.