Alan Kelly (Tipperary North, Labour) | Oireachtas source

The establishment of Irish Water is an integral component of the Government’s water sector reform strategy and will lead to lower costs and improved services in the future, providing much better outcomes for customers and the environment. Irish Water is being funded by a combination of domestic and non-domestic water charges, Government subvention and the raising of debt on capital markets.

In 2015, Irish Water expects billed income from domestic customers to total €271 million and from non-domestic customers to total some €229 million, giving a total billed income from customers of €500 million. In addition, the Government will provide €399 million in operating subvention to Irish Water in 2015. Irish Water has been progressing funding initiatives with a view to putting in place several debt facilities with commercial lenders during 2015.

The Government is proposing to provide for the payment of a water conservation grant of €100 per annum which will be available to all eligible households in respect of their primary residence. The water conservation grant will commence this year and an allocation of €130 million has been provided in my Department’s Estimates for 2015. The allocation of €130 million represents an increase of some €64 million on the previous alleviation measures included in budget 2015.

The budget allocation for the water conservation grant is based on an estimate of up to 1.3 million households applying for the grant. This estimated level of demand for 2015 takes account of the number of primary residences recorded in the 2011 census, as well as experiences with other demand-led schemes. The provisions required in future years will be determined as part of the annual budgetary process, having regard to the take-up of the scheme and forecast growth in household numbers.

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