Barry Cowen (Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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I will try to be brief and not cover ground already covered. In the first instance, these are EU proposals. It is not a directive or a done deal. It was stated other countries had similar queries and reservations about what was being put forward. In any set of negotiations one does not expect to walk out at the point at which one walked in. May I take it that the Department will be co-ordinating a response which will be cognisant of all of the stakeholders for whom this issue is relevant?

On the associated capital costs for Irish Water, it is 20 years since the standards were updated. I would have thought there was an expectation that this was in the offing such that Irish Water, given its expertise, would have catered for it but so be it. I know that there are negotiations taking place on revising the service level agreements with local authorities and that cost savings are expected to be achieved. When everything is agreed between all of the parties, including the Department, Irish Water, the local authorities and the associated unions, any costs saving could be offset by Irish Water in whatever way it saw fit. However, the group water schemes do not have this option available to them. While their funding has been reinstated, there should be a commitment from the Government in advance of any agreement that it will meet any additional cost that may be incurred by them arising from this proposal. In the main, group water schemes are voluntary organisations and they will be challenged far more in this area than Irish Water. The Department should be mindful of that commitment and our expectation, as public representatives, that it will be stated, categorically and vehemently. We acknowledge that within the service level agreement which was rushed into some years ago there is a commitment from all parties to renegotiate it. As I said, nothing is agreed until everything is agreed, but there is an expectation on everybody's part that there will be cost savings in the event that the commitment period to 2025 is reduced to 2021. The negotiations are ongoing. The Department needs to come clean on the areas that will benefit from cost savings, or if it is solely the reserve of Irish Water, notwithstanding the challenge to meet the demands of an old and creaking system which is only being invested in to the levels one would have expected in the past ten or 12 years, rather than preceding decades.

As I said, this is only the start of the process. There is an expectation that there will be improvements in the quality of water that will arrive through the tap, which is only right and proper and we will support all efforts to do this. I would have thought the WHO recommendations went as far as one needed to go. I do not see any need to go beyond them and neither does anyone we represent. This should be reflected in the negotiations and consultations with the European Union and I wish all involved every success. The committee is more than willing to provide any help or assistance required in the intervening months. We would welcome an update during the course of the deliberations such that we would not be hit with a sledgehammer come next May.