Alan Kelly (Tipperary North, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I do not know if the Deputy was present when I commented on the issue of homelessness, but it will be addressed in later questions.

In December 2013 all of the local authorities signed individual service level agreements with Irish Water. Under these agreements, local authorities are conducting certain water services such as operations and maintenance of plants on behalf of Irish Water. I have no role in agreeing individual service level agreements which are operational matters for individual local authorities and Irish Water. However, I understand from Irish Water that Waterford City and County Council has been paid some €12.2 million to the end of October 2014 under the agreed service level agreement.

As well as in-built reviews of a service level agreement after two and seven years, there are annual service plans with agreed objectives and standards of performance, set against a budget covering headcount, goods and services and investment in the forthcoming year. Agreement on the annual service plan is a collaborative process between Irish Water and each of the local authorities and their representative bodies. The 2015 process is well under way and it is expected that annual service plans for 2015 will be agreed shortly. Until these plans are finalised, it is not be possible to give a breakdown per local authority for 2015.

A key objective of both the service level agreements and the annual service plans is to maintain service levels for all users of public water and waste water services. Meeting the new uniform regulatory requirements and standards and the regulator’s customer requirements is at the heart of the 2015 annual service plans.

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