Kevin Humphreys (Dublin South East, Labour)
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141. To ask the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government if he will provide a breakdown by local authority of the amount each will receive from Irish Water in 2014 under the service level agreements for the provision of water services; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [15699/14]

Kevin Humphreys (Dublin South East, Labour)
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142. To ask the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government if he will provide a table showing the general purpose grant from the Local Government Fund for each local authority received in 2013 and 2014, respectively, inclusive for 2014 of the moneys received from Irish Water through the LGF to fund water services; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [15700/14]

Kevin Humphreys (Dublin South East, Labour)
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143. To ask the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government the amount Irish Water will receive from the Local Government Fund in 2014; if he will provide a breakdown by county on the way Irish Water has allocated this money to local authorities; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [15701/14]

Phil Hogan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 141 to 143, inclusive, together.

General purpose grants are a contribution from my Department towards meeting the cost to local authorities of providing a reasonable level of services to their customers. €640,903,434 was paid to local authorities from the Local Government Fund in general purpose grants in 2013. The table below details the general purpose grant payments from the Local Government Fund to all local authorities in 2013:

The local government funding model has changed considerably in 2014 and, in particular, the establishment of Irish Water and its financial relationship with the local government sector has had a considerable impact on the local authority financing model. I expect that the Local Government Fund will provide up to € 486.5 million to Irish Water in 2014. This amount will fund the water - related expenditures incurred heretofore by local authorities, and met by them from their own resources and general purpose grants.

The funding to be provided to each local authority for the provision of water services in 2014 will be governed by Service Level Agreements (SLAs) between Irish Water and individual authorities. I have no function in relation to agreeing the level of payments to be made to local authorities by Irish Water under these SLAs.

My Department has asked Irish Water to put in place specific arrangements to address the queries which public representatives may have in relation to matters pertaining to the operation of water services under the new utility. I understand that Irish Water has made contact with Oireachtas members to outline the arrangements for addressing such queries in a timely manner.

The amount to be paid to local authorities from the Local Government Fund for general purpose grants in 2014 is €281m; this figure recognises the removal of water related costs from local authorities to Irish Water in 2014 and the individual authority allocations are, therefore, not directly comparable to 2013. The table below details the proposed general purpose grant allocations from the Local Government Fund to local authorities in 2014 (the allocations to County Councils are “county at large” allocations in respect of the County Council and any Town Councils within the county).