Fergus O'Dowd (Louth, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Irish Water is a commercial State body within the BGE group and all the normal governance and accountability rules which apply to commercial bodies - such as requirements for ministerial consent to enter into capital commitments and raise borrowing and requirements on the provision of annual reports and accounts - also apply to it.

The legislation under which Irish Water was established also provides for conditions to be attached to any grants from central funds by the Minister for Finance or in respect of grants from departmental funds by the Minister. However, the establishment costs are not voted Department expenditure. Rather, they are being funded by means of a commercial loan from the NPRF. It is not appropriate, therefore, to include details of those costs in replies to parliamentary questions.

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