Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees
Thursday, 26 June 2014
Public Accounts Committee
2012 Annual Report and Appropriation Accounts of the Comptroller and Auditor General
Chapter 4 - Vote Accounting
Chapter 10 - Central Government Funding of Local Authorities
Chapter 11 - Costs of Land Remediation
Vote 25 - Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government
11:10 am
Mr. John McCarthy:
There is no departmental representative on the board of Irish Water. The norm is that there would be no departmental representatives on the boards of commercial State bodies, in order to avoid any issues of confusion of roles.
We are now in the pre-regulatory period. The charging regime will kick in from 1 October 2014 and the Commission for Energy Regulation is currently engaging in the process which will lead to final decisions on water charges. By that time the regulator will have assessed Irish Water's costs and made decisions on what is efficient. In the intervening period the Department, together with the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform and NewERA have a structured engagement with Irish Water on its financial and other governance issues for the period from now until 1 October, when the new arrangements will kick in. At present we get reports every two months from Irish Water on its financial position and we also get monthly reports on the metering programme.