Barry Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

While I welcome the Minister's response, I am at a loss at his statement that no local authority will be at a loss when no local authority outside Dublin and Waterford had established what revenue would accrue from the commercial rates to be paid by Irish Water. The Minister said there was no consultation or discussion with the management association on the proposal and the decision. I need further proof from the Department as to how the figure of €59 million was arrived at and how it breaks down across the country. I need to know into the future that local authorities can definitively be satisfied that there will be no loss to them in funding vis-à-visthe local government funding model over the coming years. No valuations were carried out and there was no indication of what the valuation was. There was no idea as to what the income stream would be. Therefore, how can the Minister quantify the sum and will he break down the €59 million across the 34 local authorities?

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