Mr. John McCarthy:

The local government fund is outside the Vote. I do not think the local government fund or the Irish Water element of that would be reflected in those expenditure ceilings.

We have in clear determinations for Irish Water from CER for the period to the end of 2016. We have some indications from CER on how it will take forward the following five-year period in terms of the further efficiencies it will expect Irish Water to deliver. In order to prepare for that we have a business planning process going on in Irish Water, which should be finalised shortly, which will take the profile out to 2021. As part of that exercise that will involve issues around investment and the sourcing of investment. It will involve issues around, based on certain assumptions, the ongoing subvention that will have to be provided. That is why I mentioned that the business plan is an important piece for charting out the period beyond 2016, even ahead of CER doing the statutory assessment of expenditure process.