Mr. John Mullins:

I agree the save-as-you-pay approach has much merit. We are currently in discussion with the Minister, Deputy Pat Rabbitte, about this approach as applied to energy utilities. It is an interesting concept and I will consider that suggestion. The expenditure by OFWAT in the UK and the KPI, key performance indicators, improvement was part of the consultation process of agreeing a CAPEX programme. That is exactly the type of scrutiny to be used. For a certain amount of investment by region we will have to meet a certain level of leakage reduction and demonstrate that there has been that reduction in leakage. It is our expectation that the OFWAT approach is to be adopted by the Irish regulatory system. That is exactly what happens with regard to our CAPEX gas programme; under the customer charter we must meet these KPIs and we must invest effectively and efficiently. All of our gas transmission is sanctioned by the CER on an individual basis and also by the Department of Communications, Energy and Natural Resources. There is quite an amount of oversight and we expect that oversight to continue in the context of very large schemes and leakage reduction schemes. The leakage reduction scheme will continue for multiple price control periods and such a period could be for five years. There could be three price controls dealing with a progressive leakage reduction in every region in the country. In reply to Deputy Humphreys's concerns about urgency, as an engineer I fully understand the urgency and from speaking to people such as Barry O'Leary of IDA Ireland that there are issues associated with the placement of infrastructure and water is a material issue.

We hope that the introduction of metering will create a reduction in domestic consumption by at least 10%. There is empirical evidence to show that this will be the case. Citizens have reacted to other variable charges which have been introduced. As a result of our conservation and education programme we should see a conservation of water in greater Dublin that might give us that extra period of time to deal with the urgent issue. However, that is not a silver bullet to cure the problem which will need to be dealt with by means of significant investment in a particular project.

In response to Deputy Stanley, the only one of which we are aware is the proposal by Bord na Móna. I have suggested to the chief executive of Bord na Móna that he should engage with the Commissioner for Energy Regulation on that project forthwith. We will engage with Bord na Móna or any other body which is looking to provide a solution to that problem.

Deputy Humphreys asked about the installation of broadband cabling. Our telecom subsidiary, Aurora Telecom, works with Enet which uses the sewage system and MANs. Our company already brings fibre-optic cabling along with our gas pipelines from Dublin to Galway, Ennis, Shannon, Limerick and to Cork. We are commissioning in Cork this month. We are the first company to have brought fibre-optic cabling to Shannon alongside our gas pipeline. We are very familiar with the conjoining aspect. It makes complete sense to take the opportunity of installing the last-mile fibre at the same time as the installation of new infrastructure. I have made this point to the Government.

The question of freedom of information oversight is a matter to be dealt with by legislation. Irish Water is a commercial company which is not subject to freedom of information legislation but the company is subject to Oireachtas committee oversight. On the question of consultation with consumers with respect to the administration of charges and the provision of services, an advisory body could be established in some form. As a utility provider we have built up our links with consumers over many years. We have focus groups who meet regularly in order to gain an understanding of our customers' needs. The issue of switching means this is important. This will not be the case with regard to Irish Water. On the issue of a monopoly, that is the reason a regulator is in place. The regulator must ensure that Irish Water does its job in terms of quality, service and price and we rely on good regulation in that regard.

We are engineers and we fully understand the issue of supply for the eastern seaboard. However, until the legislation is fully in place in 2013, Irish Water cannot sponsor that particular project.