Mr. Aurel Ciobanu-Dordea:

We understand that in the first generation of the river basin management plans - I am sorry for the technical language - in 2009, Ireland, like other member states, filed with the European Commission, according to the obligations in this directive, river basin management plans where it indicated that it intends to apply water charges to fund the water infrastructure and the investment and to secure the sustainability of the system. This means that the use of Article 9(4) is no longer possible. We are aware that this is also a sensitive issue and polemics are possible as well and we are also well aware that the committee has interviewed or heard from authorities from Northern Ireland and Scotland.