Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Thursday, 7 October 2021

Public Accounts Committee

2020 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General - Chapters 15 and 16
2019 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General - Chapter 16
National Treasury Management Agency - Financial Statements 2020

9:30 am

Mr. Frank O'Connor:

Yes. Ms O'Halloran may wish to come in on it as well. In the background, the arrangement was that we could provide a working capital facility to Irish Water in the amount of approximately €350 million, depending on its needs, and that would then be repaid before year end and could ebb and flow as needed. We have been directed by the Minister to do that. The terms of the agreement are being signed at the moment. Irish Water has indicated it will not need to draw on the facility this year but all the paperwork and administration are in the background. A bit like Mr. O'Kelly's earlier comments in respect of ISIF, the terms will have to be commercial. We did comparisons in respect of where utilities in Europe borrow and the spread over a reference rate such as EURIBOR.