John Browne (Wexford, Fianna Fail)
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488. To ask the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government the total estimated costs of abolishing Irish Water. [42835/14]

John Browne (Wexford, Fianna Fail)
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489. To ask the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government his views on a future referendum on an amendment to the Constitution to prevent the privatisation of Irish Water. [42836/14]

Pearse Doherty (Donegal South West, Sinn Fein)
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510. To ask the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government the number of shares he owns in Irish Water; and the date and details of any purchase or sale of shares by him. [43125/14]

Tommy Broughan (Dublin North East, Independent)
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515. To ask the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government if, in the event of the abolition of water charges, he has provided consideration to the creation of a special purpose vehicle in the ownership of the 31 local water authorities to provide investment and support for the modernisation of the water network. [43143/14]

Alan Kelly (Tipperary North, Labour)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 488, 489, 510 and 515 together.

I refer to the reply to Questions Nos. 1024 and 1057 of 4 November, which sets out the position on the public ownership of Irish Water. I will keep the provisions of the Water Services Acts in relation to the critically important issue of public ownership of Irish Water under review.

An Independent Assessment published in 2012 reviewed the strengths and weaknesses of the delivery of water services through 34 local authorities, and concluded that there was a fragmentation of leadership and co-ordination, difficulty in attaining economies of scale, difficulty in delivering projects of national importance and an aging and poor quality network. The report concluded that the best way of ensuring increasing efficiency and effectiveness of operations and capital investment and accessing new finances for the water sector, was to establish Irish Water as a public utility. Accordingly, no consideration is being given to the creation of a special purpose vehicle or to the abolition of Irish Water.