Fergus O'Dowd (Louth, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The service level agreement between a local authority and Uisce Éireann will last for 12 years which means the county council will be doing most of the work. Depending on the county the council may not be involved with design work but it will be involved in discussions with Uisce Éireann about the key projects and the cost predictions. Uisce Éireann must have regard to the policy of the county council, to the county development plan, to the Enterprise Ireland development plans and other statutory agencies such as IDA Ireland and the EPA.

If we were to do all the work that needs to be done, it is believed we would need €600 million a year in capital expenditure for the next X number of years. Even at the best of times we did not have that level of funding for capital expenditure. A balance needs to be struck between the needs of the area and what the funding can provide. The Senator is correct that decisions will be necessary as to whether, for example, Cashel rather than Cork city will get a €20 million investment plant.

Practical decisions will have to be made on those issues but the decisions of local authorities, as always has been the case, even with the Department, is that there has to be two-way communication. There must be due regard to what is essential. A list of priorities has to be made, and Irish Water, Uisce Éireann, will produce its plan, which will be transparent. It will be published and will then be open for opinions. It will go before the regulator and the regulator must decide the cost. That is a critical job and it must be done in a transparent way because we must ensure that everybody signs off on the key issues that must be dealt with and that the money is available to do that.