Paudie Coffey (Waterford, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Questions are legitimate about the expenditure from the public purse. I reassure all Senators that any Government expenditure in any Department is subject to full audit by the Comptroller and Auditor General, and that will happen in this case also where Government funds provided by my Department will be subject to such oversight. In addition, with regard to the Irish Water elements, the Commission for Energy Regulation is established as a dedicated, independent economic regulator and all Irish Water spending is subject to a detailed financial and economic analysis by the Commission for Energy Regulation, similar to that of any other semi-State utility in the country. On top of that, Irish Water is a company under the Companies Act and is subject to strict auditing requirements in that respect also.

The involvement of the Office of the Comptroller and Auditor General is not appropriate in this case because, as I outlined, it has full audit over Government expenditure. The Office of the Comptroller and Auditor General reviews all departmental expenditure, as I stated. It independently reviewed the cost of more than 50 documents on the Commission for Energy Regulation's website. I have one here dated 8 October and all those documents are available for anybody to scrutinise on the Commission for Energy Regulation's website. The establishment costs of Irish Water are an asset, and need to be recognised as such, and they have been reviewed fully by the Commission for Energy Regulation in detail and a full report is also available on that.

With regard to some of the public comment made by the Fianna Fáil Party especially on the Irish Water funding model, I suggest to Senator O'Brien that Fianna Fáil is being very selective in its figures-----