Phil Hogan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fine Gael)
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I must ensure the changeover in terms of funding takes place. Otherwise, local authorities will be short changed by a considerable amount of money. I am providing Irish Water with the powers to do that under the service level agreements. As I understand it, €490 million, which is a significant amount of money, will be required to be transferred to local authorities as part of their Estimates process. They will need to have certainty in this regard. The legislation provides the Minister with the power to do so by way of the allocations being made by way of various measures, including the local government fund and general purpose grants.