Michael Noonan (Limerick City, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The Central Statistics Office and Eurostat will adjudicate on this issue, but they will not give us an adjudication in advance. As it is not possible to run proposals by them and obtain an adjudication, we are operating without the degree of certainty the Deputy has requested in his question. My advice is a deduction at source would bring about a situation where probably only the net amount would be taken as a contribution. Consequently, while I cannot be absolute about it, there is a risk that Irish Water would fail the market test and everything would be on balance sheet if the deduction were to made at source.

See this speech in context