Dr. Eimear Cotter:

I am not sure. Perhaps Ms Gurrie wants to think about it or can come back in. It is not completely within our area.

On climate change and drought conditions, there are provisions in the scheme for temporary abstractions. As I read it, regulations will be made to set out what a temporary abstraction is, how we would define it and that will need to be notified to the EPA. That is one way where the situations the Deputy describes may come about and that temporary abstraction would need to be notified to us. What we would be looking for when the discussion of the regulations comes around is how does one define a temporary abstraction, what is an emergency situation, how are different sectors going to be treated, how would different parts of the country and different parts of the year be factored into the decision making? We need as much clarity as we can have within those regulations. I do not think it is the scheme but the regulations which will allow us to do our work. On the larger abstractors in the context of climate change and drought conditions, having done our assessment and looked at the risks according to the different parts of the country and so on, we would be able to develop bespoke conditions for each individual licence that will place restrictions on the licensee, if required, if we do see that impact. That will give us some control as well and factor in the decision-making around different parts of the year and different pressures on water as they come through.