Mr. Niall Gleeson:

I will answer those questions. The Deputy raises some good points. Human error is a large problem in these situations and we do need to make sure there are sufficient resources on site. We certainly support the local authorities. We know there are vacancies but we are supporting the local authorities in filling those vacancies. There are certainly no budgetary issues behind those vacancies. We are struggling with the local authorities to fill some of those vacancies. Because of the current set-up, people do not see a career in water services, and I believe the single public utility will address that. We will certainly try to fill all those roles before they transfer, and when people transfer we will continue to fill roles. There is no great drive to reduce numbers. We do want to bring in some efficiencies, but the first thing we need to address is public safety and public health. That is my priority and it has always been a priority of Irish Water, so budgetary issues will be secondary to that.

I might bring in Ms Attridge on the audit situation. We will start with the top 20 and will do that within the next two weeks, but we have 800 water treatment plants around the country so we are moving those audits further out. We will do those over time, but just getting to 800 plants will take time. Ms Attridge might give us a little more detail and context on those audits. I think Ms Attridge might be on mute.