Dr. Edmond O'Reilly:

It is all of those. We look at the environmental benefit a project would bring about. As I have said, the question of environmental benefit goes back to the legislation we must follow as regards environmental compliance. We have to ensure we are achieving our objectives from the perspective of European directives, primarily the urban wastewater treatment directive, and from the perspective of our wastewater discharge licenses and our certificates of authorisation. Projects must demonstrate compliance with those primary pieces. We also must demonstrate we are providing capacity for growth. That is another key driver for us in getting projects to move forward. The final piece is that we address service risks, that is, we ensure the assets themselves are fit for purpose and can operate without failing.

On the question of what brings one project ahead of another, we have key drivers from an objectives perspective. We speak a lot about untreated agglomerations. Completing those is a key priority for us. We speak about the urban wastewater treatment directive. We are achieving a very significant amount in that regard. All our plans will be in compliance with that directive within the current investment period or early in the next investment period, when the wastewater treatment plant at Ringsend here in Dublin is finished. We work with the EPA on the priorities it presents to us through its priority areas list. We ensure we have projects advancing across those areas. The river basin management plan is also key. Urban wastewater pressures that have been identified as having a significant impact on receiving waters have been identified. We are working on projects to address those pressures across the board. They are some of the key drivers from an investment point of view.