Mr. Colm Brady:

We will come back to the Deputy on the average charges because we do not have the figures to hand. On the question of eliminating charges, because of the success of the model until now, I cannot see group water charges going back to a situation where they do not have a direct contribution from members, agreed on the basis of usage. The Deputy is right that a doubling of the subsidy would mean an extra €20 million or €21 million for the group water scheme sector.

Mr. McDonald set out the principles, which are fair treatment between drinking water consumers and the public group water sectors; recognition of particular cost structures and networks; subsidies continuing to be tied to conditions which support customer charters, compliance and optimal management; ensuring the combination of capital grants and operational subvention to provide schemes with the capacity to sustain drinking water quality improvements; arrangements which are as straightforward as possible and which recognise the scale of the sector; and promoting water conservation and source protection. We are confident that those principles will apply in any review of the subsidy. Our organisation was founded back in 1997 on parity and equity and we have fought for those since then. We have worked with the Department and with successive Governments and Ministers, we have been very successful and we expect to continue with that success. We are delighted that the expert commission recognises that and we are delighted with the response we are getting from this committee and the fact that its members are also concerned about equity and parity.