Eugene Murphy (Roscommon-Galway, Fianna Fail)
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Question No. 6 is in the name of Deputy John Brady but the Ceann Comhairle has agreed that Deputy Ó Broin will take this question and question No. 14, which is related to it. Is that agreed? Agreed.

John Brady (Wicklow, Sinn Fein)
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6. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government the funding being made available by Government for the expert commission on water; and if he will provide a breakdown as to the way in which this funding is to be used. [35437/16]

Martin Ferris (Kerry, Sinn Fein)
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14. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government when the Independent Commission on Water will report to him; and the timeline and detail for the establishment of the special Oireachtas committee to consider the detail of the report. [35460/16]

Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein)
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What was the funding allocation to the expert commission on the future of water charges before and after the budget? The Minister was not able to answer that question previously but perhaps he can give us one today. Is he in a position to provide an update on the formation of the commission, when he expects it to start meeting and when it will publish its report on the future of water charges?

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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We got €280,000 to spend on the costs, which are expenses related to the commission. That money has not been spent yet. Most of it is for the cost of providing staff from the Institute of Public Administration, IPA, to service the secretariat. That cost relates to a senior researcher, a researcher, administration support - as well as the involvement of the IPA's director general in assisting the commission - and other associated overhead costs. The cost of commission members travelling to and attending meetings of the commission makes up approximately €24,000. Other administrative costs include advertising and fees for members, which are modest. The members will get just over €3,000 each for the work they have been doing and the chairperson will receive €7,500. That is consistent, for example, with the type of fee that the chairman of an Oireachtas committee would get. The workload has been significant in the timeline to which those involved have been working. We have tried to keep that cost to a sensible level but, at the same time, we want to ensure that there is a proper secretariat and that the work is done as professionally as possible from a research perspective and so on.

The expert commission on domestic public water services will, we hope, make its report available to the new special Oireachtas committee on water at the end of this month. That is the timetable for which we are planning.

I have not had engagement with the expert commission, deliberately, because if I had, some people here would accuse me of trying to influence outcomes, etc. I have stayed out of this entirely, apart from setting up the commission. We are setting up a special Oireachtas committee. My understanding is that there was basic agreement at the Business Committee today as to its shape. There will be five Government Deputies, four Fianna Fáil Deputies, two Sinn Féin Deputies and five others, one from each of the smaller groups. I want to ensure that nobody is excluded. There will be four Senators --one Fianna Fáil, one Fine Gael and two others - because it is important that the Seanad is represented on the committee. It will be a group of 20 and we hope to set it up formally next week.

Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein)
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I spoke to Deputy Ó Snodaigh after the Business Committee meeting and he said the motion was not tabled, that it has been deferred until next week and, therefore, that will not come before the Oireachtas until the following week. That does not seem to tally with the Minister’s outline.

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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That is not my understanding.

Barry Cowen (Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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Nor mine.

Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein)
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When will the committee meet and how often? Will the Minister indicate when he wants it to report because many of us are eager to get on with the work once the expert commission’s report is produced? Is it the Minister’s desire that the committee should hold hearings? My view is that it should not to so and that we should just deal with the report and move to make recommendations to the Oireachtas.

While a figure of €280,000 may not seem large, €7,500 for a chairperson for three months, €2,500 per month, is significantly above what an Oireachtas committee chairman gets - in the region of €9,000 over a year. Is it a full-time position? How often has the commission met? What kind of work does it do?

Many of us are very keen to see the Oireachtas committee get on with its work. If it has been delayed, and my understanding is it has, I would like to understand why.

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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It is important to be accurate. This commission will have worked for five months, not three. The people we have asked to serve on it are knowledgeable, successful and busy individuals. This has taken up a lot of their time, I suspect. Approximately half of them are not Irish but the chairperson makes the majority Irish. They are all experts in their fields and if we want to get good quality people, the least we can do is cover the cost of their turning up for meetings. The secretariat and the research staff are needed. The commission has to avail of legal advice. That money has not yet been spent. That is what we have budgeted for in order to ensure that we can get a professional job done.

This is one of the most divisive political issues with which this Oireachtas has had to deal in recent years and that it will have to deal with in the future. We are talking about a €5 billion investment programme for Irish Water over the coming few years. It makes sense to spend a little money to ensure that we give the process the best possible opportunity of creating some political consensus around this divisive issue. That is how we have approached it. This is not my committee. I am not going to dictate how many times it meets, who it asks to appear before it, etc.

My understanding is that we can set it up next week, but we can discuss the matter further. That is the message I received from the Fine Gael Whip. Whether it is formally set up next week or the week after, it will still happen well in advance of the report coming out. The latter is important because I believe the report should go directly from the expert commission to the new committee in order that it can get on with its work and that it is not seen as being "handled" by Government in the period between the finalising of the report and its going to the committee. That is very consistent with the confidence-and-supply agreement. This is the process that is under way that I hope will produce a good outcome. The sooner that committee is set up, the sooner we can get on with it.

Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein)
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I have two further points of clarification. Will it be a matter for the committee to decide who will be its Chair? Also, my understanding was that the Business Committee was meant to agree today on the motion to be proposed to the Dáil next week and that this did not happen. Can the Minister explain why that is the case and outline the reason for the delay?

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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I am not a member of the Business Committee but my understanding was that there was an agreement, in principle, in terms of the number of Members of the Oireachtas on the committee, which will be 20. I understand that the Government is to bring forward a motion that is consistent with that next week in order to facilitate establishment. I am not aware of any objection. I made a point of telephoning a number of people to ensure that everyone was okay with what we are proposing before the meeting of the Business Committee. Many of us would have preferred a smaller group but I was very anxious that nobody would be excluded and that we would not have a d'Hondt system that would choose between the smaller groups for representation because people have very strong views on this issue. Now every group that wants to participate will have an opportunity to do so. There must be 20 members if we are to include the Seanad as part of the process as well. Hopefully, people are not going to start blocking the establishment of the committee before the commission's report is even finalised. That would be a very bad start to the process. My understanding is that agreement, in principle, was reached today and that we will bring forward a motion to that effect next week. If there is a different understanding, it can be dealt with by the Business Committee. It is not a big deal.

Barry Cowen (Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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As a member of the party that co-signed the confidence-and-supply agreement that provided a pathway to deal with this process, my understanding of the Business Committee's deliberations today is similar to that of the Minister. The configuration of the committee, the number of members and the levels of representation on it were all agreed earlier today. A motion will be forthcoming from the Government during the course of next week to seek the approval of the Dáil for that committee to be put in place and a Chairman to be appointed, with a view to it being in receipt the week after of the expert commission's report and for it then, as Deputy Ó Broin stated, to decide upon the means and methods by which it will do its business before it refers the matter back to the Dáil for an ultimate decision.

Eugene Murphy (Roscommon-Galway, Fianna Fail)
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The time is completely up. Even allowing for the two questions being grouped, we are way over time.

Question No. 7 is in the name of Deputy Curran. Deputy Barry Cowen is going to take it in his stead. Is that agreed?

Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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Is the question grouped?

Eugene Murphy (Roscommon-Galway, Fianna Fail)
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No. The previous two questions were grouped because they were similar, as Deputy Ó Broin pointed out to me. This is a question in the name of Deputy Curran and it has been suggested to me that it will be taken by Deputy Cowen.

Barry Cowen (Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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If there are similar questions, I have no problem with it being grouped with them.

Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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We were told they were grouped.

Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein)
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It is grouped with Questions Nos. 27 and 33.

Eugene Murphy (Roscommon-Galway, Fianna Fail)
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Sorry. I did not realise that.

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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It is grouped with Questions Nos. 27 and 33, just to be helpful.

Eugene Murphy (Roscommon-Galway, Fianna Fail)
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That is fine. There is no problem there. We are taking Questions Nos. 7, 27 and 30 together. Is everybody agreed on that?

Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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No. 33.

Eugene Murphy (Roscommon-Galway, Fianna Fail)
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Questions Nos. 7, 27 and 33. That is fine.

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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The Deputy sees the conspiracy in every sentence.

Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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Clarity.

Eugene Murphy (Roscommon-Galway, Fianna Fail)
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The questions are in the names of Deputies Boyd Barrett, Mitchell and Curran. That was not in front of me but I have no difficulty with it at all.