Seán Fleming (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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To ask the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government when the steering group to oversee reform of the water sector was established; who is the chairperson of this group; the membership of same; the number of meeting that have been held and the number of reports and conclusions issued; the action being taken as a result of the process; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [48576/12]

Phil Hogan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fine Gael)
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The steering group referred to in the Question was established in June 2011 to oversee the independent assessment on the transfer of responsibility for water provision from local authorities to a water utility which was required under the Programme of Financial Support for Ireland with the EU/IMF/ECB. The group , which is chaired by my Department ( Mr Mark Griffin, Assistant Secretary ), has met on four occasions to date.

As well as my own Department, membership is drawn from the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform, NewERA and the County and City Managers ’ Association . PricewaterhouseCoopers, the consultants appointed to undertake the independent assessment, also attended meetings of the group.

The group oversaw the preparation of the independent assessment and, based on the recommendations of that assessment , the Government decided in December 2011 to establish Irish Water as a public water utility. Following the Government decision in April 2012 that Irish Water should be established as an independent subsidiary of Bord Gáis Eireann, membership of the group was extended to include a representative of Bord Gáis. During the course of this year, the group’s main focus has been on the development of an implementation strategy to give effect to Government decisions in relation to the water reform programme. This has included consideration of the appropriate programme governance arrangements for the implementation phase.