Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Independent)
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199. To ask the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government if he will provide the full details of the final agreements between local authorities and Irish Water in respect of asset transfers, staffing, compensation, and other issues related to the establishment of Irish Water; if Irish Water has transferred any monetary sum to a local authority or has agreed to do so in future; if he will provide the full cost to date for the operation of the water services transition office broken down by category; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [37548/14]

Alan Kelly (Tipperary North, Labour)
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The Water Services (No. 2) Act 2013 provides for the transfer of water services functions from the 34 water services authorities to Irish Water. With effect from 1 January 2014, Irish Water is responsible for the provision of public water services.

Section 12 of the Act provides for the transfer of property from a local authority to Irish Water. Section 13 of the Act provides that any rights or liabilities relating to the property transferred to Irish Water under section 12 shall also stand transferred to Irish Water. Section 14 of the Act provides for the transfer of other liabilities from a water services authority to Irish Water by way of Ministerial Order.

To date, two Orders have been made under section 14 - the Water Services (No. 2) Act 2013 (Transfer of Other Liabilities) Order 2014, which was signed on 20 February 2014, and the Water Services (No. 2) Act 2013 (Transfer of Other Liabilities) Order (No. 2) 2014, which was signed on 24 April 2014. The Orders, which are available in the Oireachtas library, provided for the transfer of a total of 970 contracts from the local authorities to Irish Water.

Work is underway to prepare for the transfer of water services property and liabilities from the local authorities to Irish Water and it is expected that further Orders will be made in this regard in the coming months.

Irish Water has entered into service level agreements (SLA) with each of the local authorities for the provision of water services, as provided for under the Water Services (No.2) Act 2013. Staff in local authorities conducting work under these arrangements will remain local authority employees. The SLA reflects the transformation agenda required for the sector, with provision for annual service plans which will set out required performance, budgets and headcount.

The length of the service level agreement and the fact that the agreement will include a programme of change are reflected in a Framework document, agreed with the Trade Unions under the auspices of the Labour Relations Commission, and which is available on my Department’s website. This agreement, and the Water Services (No.2) Act 2013 provide that, in the event of a SLA coming to an end, the staff covered by that agreement will become Irish Water employees and their terms and conditions and superannuation arrangements will be protected by legislation.

The Water Services Transition Office was established to ensure appropriate local authority input into the reform agenda and prepare for the transfer of functions to Irish Water. My Department agreed outline budgets for both 2013 and 2014 to cover costs of staff seconded to the Office, recoupment of salaries of certain staff in local authorities and other necessary programme costs. An amount of €5.748m was recouped in 2013 under the headings outlined in a table.