Brian Stanley (Laois-Offaly, Sinn Fein)
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562. To ask the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government if he will provide a written ministerial direction to Irish Water under Part 4, section 32 of the Water Services Act 2013 in relation to the future use of external consultants by Irish Water and to prevent further excessive spending. [38190/14]

Alan Kelly (Tipperary North, Labour)
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Since 1 January 2014 Irish Water has statutory responsibility for all aspects of water services planning, delivery and operation at national, regional and local levels. Decisions on specific operational matters including the use of external resources are a matter for the company and I have no role in that regard. However, costs incurred by Irish Water are examined by the Commission for Energy Regulation as an integral element of the independent economic regulation of Irish Water, ensuring that only efficiently incurred costs are passed on to the consumer.

Having examined the proposed costs for the period 1 October 2014 to 31 December 2014, the Commission has approved a level of allowed revenue and water charges. The Commission has set challenging annual efficiency targets for both operational and capital expenditure as part of this process. The examination of costs also included a review of the set-up costs of Irish Water and the Commission has approved €172.8 m to cover these costs to be included of the opening regulatory asset base for Irish water. According to the Commission, this level of approved establishment costs is predicated on the justification that this investment, which included services from external providers, will enable Irish Water to drive substantial cost savings and service quality improvements over this regulatory period and for many years to come.