Billy Timmins (Wicklow, Independent)
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147. To ask the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government the funding that was given by Irish Water to local authorities; if he will provide a breakdown by local authority; and the purpose it was to be used for. [3016/14]

Phil Hogan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fine Gael)
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The Water Services Act 2013 provided for the establishment of Irish Water as a subsidiary of Bord Gáis Éireann, to be formed and registered under the Companies Act.

The Water Services (No.2) Act 2013 transferred statutory responsibility for water services to Irish Water and provided for local authorities to act as agents for Irish Water, with this relationship being expressed through Service Level Agreements. These agreements have now been signed by each authority and Irish Water and each included operational budgets appropriate to the cost of providing water services within each authority area.

The Revised Estimates Volume for Public Services 2014 provides an amount of €490 m for Irish Water from the Local Government Fund in 2014; the final outturn figure for 2014 is likely to be slightly less than this amount. This amount provided will fund water related expenditures incurred heretofore by local authorities, and met by them from their own resources and general purpose grants. Within this overall framework, the agreement of budgets with local authorities and the payments for services provided is a matter for Irish Water. The Annual Financial Statement of each local authority for 2014 onwards will explicitly detail the cost of services provided to Irish Water and the related payments received in each financial year.