Mr. Garrett Blaney:

Gabhaim buíochas leis an gCathaoirleach, leis na Teachtaí Dála agus leis na Seanadóirí as ucht an tseans teacht anseo agus labhairt leo faoi chúrsaí agus rialáil Uisce Éireann. Má tá suim ag duine ar bith ceist a chur i nGaeilge nó i mBéarla, táimíd breá sásta glacadh leis sin. Déanfaimid ár ndícheall gach ceist a fhreagairt.

Mr. Paul McGowan is our lead commissioner in the area of water and will cover the majority of the questions that arise. Ms Cathy Mannion is director of water and will help Mr. McGowan in that task. Ms Aoife MacEvilly is a new commissioner who has joined us in the past two weeks. We thought it important to have the full commission present, given the importance of the subject.

I will talk briefly about the role of the CER, of which many members of the committee are probably already aware. We will then discuss the water tariffs, the process of revenue, how we assess revenues for the water tariffs and customer protection.

The CER is the independent energy regulator. We started with the regulation of electricity prices, followed by gas prices. That started in 2000 and was very much driven by European legislation and the requirement to have independent regulation in the energy market. We have broad functions in the economic area and have also recently been given functions in safety regulations which cover the exploration for oil and gas, both onshore and offshore.

They also cover the gas network and contractors in the home for gas and electricity systems. Our functions in the area of economic regulation are set out in legislation and began earlier this year. The key function is to protect the consumer which is at the core of all our activities.

I will hand over to Mr. McGowan who will run through the specifics of Irish Water.