Joe Higgins (Dublin West, Socialist Party)
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163. To ask the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government if he will outline the salaries paid to, and salary structures of, the members of the board of Uisce Éireann and the head of the transition office. [8667/14]

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 (BGÉ) and that the new company should be formed and registered under the Companies Acts. The Memorandum and Articles of Association, which were adopted by Irish Water on its incorporation in July 2013, provide that the appointment of directors to the Board of Irish Water is the responsibility of the Board of BGÉ with the approval of the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government and the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources. Twelve directors have been appointed to the Board of Irish Water by BGÉ and these appointments were approved in advance by me, as Minister, and by my colleague, Minister Pat Rabbitte.

The fee payable to the Chairman of Irish Water is €30,000 per annum and the fee payable to the non-executive directors is €15,000 per annum as approved by the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform and in line with Board remuneration in the semi-state sector. The two executive directors are not in receipt of any fee.

The Chairman was appointed on 17 July 2013 and the amount of the fee paid to the Chairman in 2013 was €13,769. One non-executive director who was appointed has waived the Board fee payable. The total fees paid to the other non-executive directors in respect of 2013 amounted to €20, 000. Therefore, the total amount paid in Board fees to the directors of Irish Water to the end of 2013 was €33,769.

The Water Services Transition Office (WSTO) was established by the County and City Managers’ Association to assist with the implementation of the water sector reform process. The role of the WSTO is to support the delivery of the water sector reform programme on behalf of the local government sector, by co-ordinating the involvement of the 34 County and City Councils on a range of matters including standardised data gathering, financial analysis, HR negotiations, negotiation of SLAs and transition planning, all of which were required while daily water services operations were being maintained.

The annual fee payable to the Senior Responsible Officer (SRO) for the WSTO, as approved by my Department, is €36,000. A total of €29,520 was paid to the SRO in 2013.