David Cullinane (Waterford, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

That is my point. It is a policy issue. I imagine that the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform had intended or hoped that Irish Water would be more commercial, but because of all the difficulties, Irish Water was not in a position to pay the rates or rates were not applied to it. Instead, the Department paid the rates for the local authorities. It has discontinued that payment now, leaving some local authorities high and dry and substantially down funding.