Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Thursday, 18 April 2019

Public Accounts Committee

Environmental Protection Agency: Financial Statements 2017

9:00 am

Ms Laura Burke:

There are a number of different committees including an outputs monitoring group for Irish Water. That includes a number of bodies, not only ourselves but also the Commission for Regulation of Utilities, which is the economic regulator of Irish Water. There is also a recently-established committee that was a result of the report by the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Future Funding of Domestic Water Services on water charges. It is chaired by Mr. Paul McGowan of the Commission for Regulation of Utilities and the EPA sits on that committee. It is also looking at delivery by Irish Water because there is a combination of things involved. We are saying we are not seeing delivery, particularly in urban wastewater, quickly enough. The other aspect is to ensure that money is spent efficiently. The money is needed but it needs to be delivered in the right areas.