Alan Kelly (Tipperary North, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputies. As outlined by Deputy Naughten, the allowance for the commercial sector is 40%, which is 20% of the total bill. With regard to domestic customers, the rate is 100% for water coming in. This is based on a direction of the CER and I do not see any reason to include it in primary legislation.

Irish Water has a customer charter and it is based on guidelines of the CER. There is flexibility with regard to issues that might need to be reviewed periodically. All the decisions of the CER were made after a consultation process, as people are well aware. On the commercial side, there was a consultation process to arrive at the rate of 40%.

Deputy Healy referred to the Skeheenarinky-Burcourt issue in our native county, with which both he and I are very familiar. I am glad to say it is on the programme of work for the period from 2014 to 2016. As the Deputy knows, major progress is being made in this area, which has had serious water issues for many years. I am delighted to see the ongoing programme of work. It will be a priority of Irish Water to deal with this because the issue has been so significant historically. I will keep the Deputy updated on the progress.

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