Mr. John Mullins:

In response to that, since I have taken the helm at Bord Gáis, I have insisted on top-quality customer service and have placed great store by the customer charter. This company has won international awards for customer service in our gas networks and our energy business for the last three years running. In fact, two years in a row we were voted the best contact centre across all categories in Britain and in Ireland. We are quite proficient when it comes to customer service. We have excelled in that area and have the awards to prove it. We want to take that particular proficiency and apply it to Irish Water.

To return to the point made by Deputy Coffey, Irish Water will have a customer charter. The call centre, for example, will have to respond to calls within a certain timeframe. It will have a limit on the number of dropped calls allowed. All of the key performance indicators that we currently apply to our own customer service centre will be put on the table for the new centre and we want the tenderer to give best-in-class service.

That is fundamentally important. We in this company will insist on nothing less, of that I can assure the members. It is on that basis we will move forward. Our tenders are written on the basis that the key performance indicators we currently have are appropriate. It is vital we do that. If people pay for a service they deserve to get a response within a certain period. If one telephones the 1850 20 50 50 number for Bord Gáis, one's call will be answered within 20 seconds. That is reality of what we do in our business and the one we have to put forward for Irish Water. In the context of the CER in terms of low pressure and quality, we will take those issues on board.

In terms of the asset management systems, I was in Yorkshire Water implementing the Maximo system, which is the system we will put in place. It is an IBM system that is state-of-the-art and is used in the United States and throughout Europe in asset management systems. It is the system we will put in place here, Britain having put in place 12 to 15 years ago. Mr. Cowhig might comment on the stage we are at in that process.