Mr. Cian Ó Lionáin:

On Deputy Ó Broin's comments, the more we tease this out there certainly might appear to be proportionality issues and whether it is fair. In terms of whether there is a subsidiarity issue, that is something we have to determine by the middle of April when we have to send our comments back. We will take on board all of the comments here but there is still another piece of work to be done collaboratively on this. Regarding the drinking water inspectorate, as the Deputy said that is a little off topic so I am not in a position to comment on it.

Senator Murnane O'Connor had a question about the role for local authorities. There is an incredibly important role for local authorities in terms of collaboration and community engagement. My colleague, Mr. Colin Byrne, has been leading on the river basin management plan so I will ask him to comment quickly on that.