Seán Kyne (Galway West, Fine Gael)
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Question 335: To ask the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government the position regarding the report on the establishment of Irish Water. [33638/12]

Phil Hogan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fine Gael)
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The Programme for Government provides for the establishment of a new State-owned national water authority, Irish Water, to take over responsibility for managing and supervising investment in water services infrastructure and to manage the domestic water metering programme. The Memorandum of Understanding between Ireland and the EU/IMF committed Ireland to undertaking an independent assessment of the establishment of such an authority.

The first phase of work on the independent assessment has been completed, and the published report is available on my Department's website. The Government decided in December 2011, based on the recommendations in the independent assessment, to establish a public water utility company to take over the operational and capital delivery functions of local authorities in the water services area.

Work is now focused on the development of an implementation strategy which will address transformation planning in more detail. This strategy will provide the platform for dealing with a broad range of implementation issues during the transitional phase. The implementation strategy is being developed in collaboration with other relevant Government Departments, local authorities, Bord Gáis and NewERA. The strategy will focus on maintaining the delivery of a critical public service during and following a restructuring process, and will give further clarity on the next steps that will be taken in this reform process.